Heroes Journey
by Ragemoon
Summary: REWRITTEN It's a new year at Sky High after the Royal Pain homecomming fasico last year. Princpal Powers has a game plan for the students to get then ready for the threat from Royal Pain's students. Will the students beable to cope with the class load?
1. Here Comes the Storm!

**Disclaimer:** Sky High belongs to Disney. All the characters that are part of the storyline belong to Disney. Original characters belong to me. The fan story and its idea are mine. Not for profit. Any superhero character references belong to their original owners, meaning Marvel, Dark Horse, DC and any other comic hero producers own their respected characters. The idea of the mixed super-side classes is not mine it came from 'War and Peace In Mind' some other ideas come from that story too. Kudos to any who can find the references I've added to the story.

Heroes Journey

By

Ragemoon

Chapter 1: Here Comes the Storm

In the Peace household, a young man was starting to wake up. He yawned and stretched out lazily in his bed before sitting up and turning off his alarm clock, annoyed that he had once again woken up two minutes before the alarm went off. He padded on down the stairs, catching the welcome aroma of the coffee his mother had brewed before she left for her cover job. He smiled, then frowned as he walked though the family room, noticing his mother had left the fireplace on. It was one of those gas affairs lit with the push of a button. Warren frowned as thought he was seeing a few little lizard type beings curled up in the flames. He frowned and shook his head before turning off the fire and watching as the little creatures abruptly disappeared from view.

"Figment of my imagination." Warren muttered. "Lizards in the fire, absurd." He wandered in the kitchen and found a note from his mother.

'Warren honey, Have a great first day of your last year at Sky High. Your lunch is packed and waiting in the fridge. Love Mom.'

He smiled and grabbed a muffin, powering up slightly to warm the baked good and wandering back upstairs as he quickly ate the muffin before his morning shower. The best thing about the house Josie Stronghold had sold her old friend was that it had two master bedrooms and each member of the Peace household could have their own bathroom. He had chosen the one designed like an Asian spa, while his mother was more than satisfied with her more modern, streamlined room. After a long, lazy shower, he only had time to dress before grabbing his lunch from the fridge and backpack from its hook on the door as he headed out to catch the bus.

It was only a few moments before the bus pulled up, and since he was the first student to board it, he had the impression that it was done this way so that the other students wouldn't have to suffer the sight of him walking past them on the frst day of school. It was highly unlikely, of course, but it was still amusing to see that the other kids all sat close to the driver, leaving two empty seats between him and them. It didn't matter, since there were only so many times he would have to ride the bus. It was just a shame that Sky High didn't allow the students drive themselves to school. Of course, it would a logistical nightmare if it were possible; civilians weren't so stupid that they wouldn't notice hordes of rocket powered cars heading up into the sky every morning. He watched the clouds float past his window and paid no attention to the mutters and murmurs of the students in front of him.

Sky High sat unassuming amongst the clouds, school buses flying in and out dropping off students. It was also larger then it had been, not that many would actually notice the changes until much later. Over the summer all the students had been informed that their classes were going to be integrated, heroes taking sidekick courses and visa versa, as well the news that they would be training as teams from now on. Principal Powers had even called in new teachers to help with the new course load. That surprised many of the older generation of superheroes who were used to working alone or with a sidekick or partner, at best. This meant that there were those who weren't completely happy with events, although they had to admit that changes had to be made following Royal Pain's attack.

Looking over the school, Warren sighed darkly his eyes taking in his fellow students. He watched as different people used their powers against each other in a playful and not so playful ways. He noted one of the few flying cars with authorization to land at Sky High, and the girl that spilled out of it. He had a brief glance of dark hair and dark clothing and nothing more, thanks to his best friend, Will Stronghold and Will's girlfriend Layla crossing into his line of sight. Typical; even when they weren't trying, the pair seemed to have good timing for being in the wrong place at the right time. It was good to know that their relationship was still doing well, though. Unlike his relationship with Melissa Frost, which had ended badly about two months after the Homecoming fiasco. He wondered for a moment why she had stuck around; he hadn't thought that they would be a couple after the dance but yet she remained, though she had tried her utmost to change him to what suited her.

"Hey Warren." Will smiled suddenly at his best friend. "Cannot wait to see what's in store this year." His hyper happiness was normally contagious, but he was always surprised that it did not touch Warren at all. The pyro seemed to be impervious to happiness of any sort, or at least its outward appearance.

Layla smiled, seeing Warren was not with them at all. She followed his gaze to where Melissa Frost was staring over at the trio with an emotion that Layla was surprised the ice wielding girl could feel; hate coldly burned there. She sighed, smiled brightly shaking it off.

"Come on let's go inside." She tugged on Will's arm.

Warren watched as the rest of their friends smiled at him and walked past him to get in the school; he was not quite ready to go yet and they let him have his space, as there was no getting though to him while he brooded. So they left him to his thoughts, with the assurance that they would be there when he needed them.

Warren had known that Melissa had been in the relationship as part of the unwritten hero's reward and that bothered him. She had never spared him a thought or look before that time. He'd gotten angry with himself for realizing what she was truly doing to him. Hero's reward his ass. He growled at himself for allowing her even that close to him. Not that she truly gotten close to him, some inner voice had warned him that she was not going to be forever. So he managed to keep his distance, barely.

He nodded acknowledgment to the others as they passed him, his thoughts on other things. Melissa was glaring at him again, watching him with hate-filled eyes. He wondered what he done to deserve her hatred, he had treated her better then she had clearly thought he would, but he was still unable to work out where they had gone wrong, then again, women were confusing creatures, who always seemed to have extremely complicated plans for things. Nothing was ever simple or black and white for them; it was all shades of gray. He turned his gaze pointedly away from her and walked into school.

"Girls," he muttered to himself. "I'm not going to play that game again. Once was more then enough."

Warren waded among the sea of his fellow students until they realized who it was; then they moved out of his way, quickly. He got to his locker and stowed what he would not need before his first class. His locker was chaos central but he did not mind it; he always could find just what he needed. His room at home was another story; it was always neat and tidy. He closed his locker and tossed his backpack easily over his shoulder, once more plunging into the sea of students, who once again parted when they realized that he was on the move; none of them wanted to anger the young man who controlled fire and had an infamously short temper. He didn't mind their avoidance one bit. He had his small group of friends and that was all he really wanted, even when he claimed he wanted to be left alone. Stronghold and his friends had neatly inserted themselves into his life, and he didn't know where he would be without them; he was not even sure where he had been going until they railroaded his life with their companionship.

He walked into the gym to observe Coach Boomer running Power Placement. Warren was curious to see where the new students would place, not that it really mattered anymore with the new team structure. He sighed knowing he was taking an extra course load in school because of the changes that happened after Homecoming last year. The hero-sidekick classes were intermixed and everyone was taking classes they were not used to be taking. Most of the students in Sky High where now officially behind on their work load it was going to be cram learning time for all within the rosters of the super hero school.

Warren wondered to himself if they would be at school longer. He figured that be the best way to get this training done. He'd find out at the annual speech Principal Powers gave. Which would be, he wondered? Another year he was stuck at the school or just longer hours and piles upon piles of homework with no breathing room to spare? He hoped that it was the latter; he wanted to start his hero work, not be stuck at school longer.

He realized that a new student standing there with the freshmen. He smirked; it was the girl he saw briefly before Will had blocked her from view. She might even be in his class, or more likely, in Stronghold's class. She looked about his age, though that could be deceiving in and of itself, some people were mentally older than they were physically, and she could be one of them and used to acting older then she was.

The young woman would be placed into either super hero or sidekick depending on her powers, and her team- she find out later much like the rest of the students, unless Coach Boomer was feeling edgy and placed each of the students in teams himself. Warren had a feeling his group of friends was going to be one group of heroes, and who knew how Principal Powers had planned to team up the rest of the students. Warren settled down to watch the entertainment of Coach Boomer test each student and designate his or her grading, to be either hero or sidekick.

Boomer was always good for a laugh, even if it was at another's failings. He was well aware that he had had more then enough people laugh at him because of Boomer, not that they ever laughed at his face. No one ever laughed at Warren's face, at least if they wanted to survive unscathed.

"Hey." Coach Boomer looked at the tall kid standing near the rear. "You, Beanstalk, come up here and show me your power." The tall kid came up and shape shifted into twenty littler versions of himself. Coach Boomer looked at him trying to decide what to do with him. "Sidekick." The boy pouted twenty times and tumbled off the stage laughing.

Boomer shook his head looking over the students deciding who to call next. He pointed at a red haired girl and she came up on stage. He hit a button and the usual car cam flying out of the ceiling toward the student. She caught the car with one arm. "Good job, Xena, Hero." She hopped off the stage and beamed at the other kids. They were all looking less and less frightened as Power Placement went on.

The next student flew up to the rafters of the school and beamed happily down at the Coach. "Hero. Get back down here Flyboy." Boomer shook his head as the young man landed softly and smiled and laughed at his fellow students.

"Time for the test Goth girl." Coach Boomer looked at his clipboard and read her name to himself; it was unusual, and strangely familiar but he couldn't place where he had heard it before. He eyed the girl before him, attempting to read her. She appeared to be stubborn as Layla had been; yet she seemed almost fearful of what was going on about her. Coach Boomer wondered if he had another refusal on his hands. "Yeah, you transfer student, Brigid; Goth girl." He looked at his papers on his clipboard. He pressed a button that none of the students had seen, the principal was now watching the exchange. She looked down at the files on her desk and groaned inwardly, knowing that this was going to be one of those years. "Come on, girl, I don't have all day."

"Dè a tha seo?" Brigid looked at him not realizing that in her hurry to answer him she fell on the language her and her grandfather spoke fluently at home. She tucked a strand of her long brown-black hair behind her ear. She watched the progress of her fellow students with barely hidden fear. She was extremely nervous about this for she was not allowed to show off her powers. Plus she was not sure how to just use them; she knew she could not call them up without a strong emotion attached to them. Normally her powers where driven by rage at who ever had verbally attacked her at her old school. She had a hard time just doing what she should have already been able to do.

Coach Boomer blinked not understanding her. He recognized it was Gaelic even if he did not understand one word of what she just said. "English, if you don't mind Goth Girl, that is the language we speak here."

"Um, I'm sorry." Brigid blushed looking at him. The other students all looked at her oddly. Coach Boomer looked at his paperwork it had not mentioned she was a foreign exchange student, just that she was from Hero High. He sighed it was going to be a long day if she actually spoke more then one language. He knew he could be intimidating but if he frightened her that much that she slipped into the language she normally spoke at home it was going to be a long day.

Layla blinked at the language she heard the girl speak. She watched Coach Boomer react and was glad that the gym teacher had decided not to react poorly at the reaction he had gotten from the transfer student. She walked over to were Warren was sitting and sat down next to him. He barely acknowledged her presence with the barest flicker of his eyes. They both sat and watched the scene unfold.

Warren gazed at the new girl curiously, trying to figure out why she was nervous. He had knew the language that she had spoken and unlike Coach Boomer understood what she had said. He muttered to himself. "What is this?" Repeating what she just said in English but not loud enough for anyone but Layla to hear him and she looked at him oddly for speaking.

He then had to stare at the young woman taking in abstractedly what she looked like. Part of him noted that her hair came down mid-back. She was dressed in tight black jeans, a black motorcycle jacket. Her backpack was slung over her shoulder much like his was and her motorcycle boots looked well taken care of, they shined a bit in the light of the gym. He wondered if she actually rode a motorcycle, or if it was a look that was that for style only. He would find out if he really wanted and growled inwardly, trying not to appear as if he had taken a deeper interest than normal in this girl. He was known to observe the other students just as much as they were for avoiding him. No one liked to get burned. He hoped that she wasn't one of the fan girls he seemed to have collected thanks to Homecoming last year; that was something he really didn't need. He hoped it wouldn't be the case; Layla looked as though she was planning on taking the girl under her wing. Layla had a thing about projects; half the time he felt like one of them.

"One project is enough for you, Layla." Warren muttered. "Will should be enough to amuse you."

Layla shot him a look. How did Warren know she wanted to get to know this new girl? People always intrigued her, she couldn't help it; she enjoyed getting to know people and the more they fought it the more she fought getting to know them. The people who tended to keep to themselves were the one most worth getting to know. It never occurred to her that her pushiness didn't endear her to people. They both sat and watched the drama unfold before them.

"I can't. I'm forbidden." Her voice had that flat edge that Warren understood; it was a tone he knew well, for he used it himself. He also heard fear in her voice, which was something he avoided. She had turned slightly to show off a tight unadorned dark purple muscle tank. She was not as well endowed as Melissa Frost had been but she still filled out her tank well enough that any boy in Sky High would notice. She had dark brown eyes and was pale, something which he liked for he noticed her muscle outlined by her choice in clothing. He berated himself mentally for those thoughts, though he pretended that he come in here to make sure that this set of students would avoid him at all costs too by giving them a taste of his presence. Noticing pretty girls that would probably only be drawn to his good looks was not something Warren wanted. He wanted what Layla and Will had, though he was not telling either of them that.

"What do you mean forbidden?" Coach Boomer growled blowing back the students as he showed them all why he was called 'Boomer'. Some of the kids picked themselves up off the ground their eyes wide with disbelief at such a show of power. Others he only blew back a bit shocking them with the strength of his voice. "You _will_ show me your power."

Brigid braced herself and like some the others she managed, barely, to hold her ground. Coach Boomer had blown her back a bit. "Just what I said. I cannot, my Grandfather will not let me show off. I promised." Brigid looked at him speaking calmly as she could. "You pronounced my name wrong as well Coach. It's Gaelic, pronounced _Breed_." She then muttered to herself much to the amusement of her fellow students. "Not that I think you are going to call me anything other then Goth Girl." She looked at him speaking so he could hear her. "I'm not doing this. I cannot do this." Her form was rigid with fear and her eyes wide with shock. Warren wondered why she would refuse the test. He pondered the thought that maybe she feared her power and showing it off would be hard for her. Or she just felt the same way Layla did about the whole sidekick/hero rift.

"Power Placement only causes a rift between students." Layla glanced over at Warren. "People get an over inflated opinion of themselves when they get cast as the hero. Everyone is important no matter what ever their power. Working together is the only way to erase this wrongness from the system." Warren smirked; he knew exactly what she was talking about. He had observed that himself as he went though life. People with great power had this tendency to abuse it if they did not care if they hurt others. Much like his father had abused his and ended up in his current situation; living in a jail cell.

Coach Boomer had not been impressed when Layla had challenged him and he wasn't happy that this newcomer had done it either. What was it with the young woman of that generation? They seemed not to want to follow the rules that had been so carefully laid out by their elders, want to prove something by breaking them. He looked at her and growled. "Sidekick." He knew that Layla and Warren were watching the new students get placed; he had seen them both come in. "You can join Flower Girl and her cronies. If you're not happy with that, see Principal Powers later." He looked up from his clipboard to see the girl in question sitting next to Warren. "Flower Girl, Hothead meet your newest teammate. Make sure you introduce her to the others." He glared at all three before stalking off. The students waited a few moments, then surged out of the gym then off to their respective class rooms.

Layla looked down at her watch, her eyes widening. "Oh my, we are gonna be late." She grabbed the other girl's hand thoughtlessly. "See ya at lunch Warren!" She called, dragging the other girl behind her as they headed off to class. He watched in amusement as the other girl tugged free of Layla's grip and the two hurried off together. Apparently the pair shared the homeroom time together, causing him to wonder who he would have in his homeroom this year and if they'd leave him in peace.

Brigid tugged free of Layla's grip. "Don't tug me along." Her voice was sharp, and Layla looked at her in surprise. "I am capable of following," She snapped. "Why are you doing this? And don't tell me it's because Coach said to. I don't buy that." Brigid crossed her arms and glared at Layla as they stood outside homeroom.

"I'm doing this because I like people and because Coach assigned you to us." Layla could see the other girl bristling and wondered how hard it was going to be to get to know her. She seemed a bit defensive, as though she always had to be on guard all the time against others.

"So? I'm not a charity case." Brigid pointed out as they entered the classroom and took seats next to each other. "I don't need you to look after me."

Layla sighed and was about to say something else as their homeroom teacher came in and started to speak to the class giving them their assignments and telling them that after homeroom would be the school assembly. She watched Brigid as the other girl glared at the other students around her, giving the impression of Warren was sitting with her and not the newest student of Sky High. She wondered how hard it was going to be to get past the prickly outside part of Brigid to the friendly girl Layla could sense was there.

Meanwhile the bell rang and Warren cursed softly, now he was late. He should have known better than to let two pretty girls distract him. He moved quickly to his first class of the day praying that lunch would come soon. He was also looking forward to the classes he had with the others. He wondered if the new girl would have classes with all of them before placing her out of his mind as he slid into his seat and glaring at a few of his classmates that were trying to decided on what seats to move into. The teacher walked in a few moments after all her students were done piling in. She noted that her students seemed to have piled up on half the room leaving one student to a seat all to himself. She then realized that the student that all her students where avoiding was Warren Peace. She sighed realizing this was going to be a long homeroom.

Warren took out a book from his backpack and started to read. The first day of school was uselessly boring especially when you were an upperclassman. He opened the book and began to read the French epic; the fact that he was reading it in French would no doubt have surprised many people.

The students all around him talked about the changes they thought where being made. Many made wild guesses and some just figured that Principal Powers was just trying to scare them all. No one knew what was really going on in the student population.

Elsewhere in the school, Ethan talked quickly to his homeroom teacher to gain access to the school library. He knew he would not have a lot of time to do what he needed to do as he sat down at a computer, muttering to himself. "I know she looks like someone I studied..." He started to search with her name, for much like everyone else he knew what the new girl's name was, Coach Boomer kind of made for an odd introduction to the school. He had briefly seen her as she and Layla had fairly run him over in attempts to get to their homeroom on time.

He also noticed the way she reacted to Layla's friendly demeanor and wondered why she was so prickly toward others. He had a feeling he would find out soon enough. He caught his breath suddenly as the names Ice Demon and Wind Demon came to him. He brought the pair of villains up then saw why he thought he knew who she was; she must be the daughter of the two villains. He then began to look at her history and found she was pure weather wielder with no control whatsoever, for her power was based on her emotions. Ethan winced at the thought of the damage she could honestly do if someone truly angered her.

He noted that she tended to react much the way Warren did when he used too much power, both became very cold, and only things like electric blankets, hot foods and hot drinks would do to revive them. That thought was not pleasant; if that included the universal crankiness he noticed that fire types happened to end up with, she was undoubtedly going to be as bad as Warren was. Not that he had changed all that dramatically after he had started hanging out with Ethan and the others; they had simply mellowed him a little. He shook his head not wanting to ponder what it was going to be like having to deal with another emotional type especially one that was female, with female hormones to boot. He was not looking forward to the girl's time of the month that was going to be a bad experience he just had a feeling.

He frowned as he read on; she even had an odd weakness against iron, that had been discovered when an old foe of her Grandfather's had attacked the pair when she was younger they had been traveling in the mountains of France. The man wielded two pure iron swords and had stabbed Brigid in the side and though he hadn't hit anything vital, she had been in hospital for weeks with iron poisoning.

The next thing he read made his blood turned cold. Her mother, the Ice Demon had killed Capitan Bones. Captain Bones had been able to command the dead; well walking skeletons, to do his bidding. She killed him when she was robbing one of the world's largest jewel stores over in Europe. She had thrown an ice projectile that had gotten though his defenses and into his heart. Ethan recoiled, rubbing his chest in sympathy.

"What a burden, her mother killed a superhero that's gotta be bad thing to have to deal with." He read on and frowned. "Normal people died too, from the cold. Not lucky at all." He pondered this. Baron Battle had done way more damage in his time at being a villain then this woman had done so far, though both villains were killers. Both had killed superheroes that had gone after them as well.

He shuddered realizing that the Ice Demon also bore an iron weapon; a spear that she used to command her icy death moves. He had a bad feeling about that weapon and the meaning behind it, especially with Brigid's weakness with iron. The fact that her parents had managed to slip away from the heroes that had been sent after them was surprising, but not unheard of. He wondered where they had hidden their loot, as none of the property they had stolen had ever been recovered.

He read some more on her parents' villainous acts and stared at the computer screen in horror once more upon finding out that Brigid's mother had murdered her father. That left the young shape-shifter chilled. It seemed that the Wind Demon was going to turn himself in, after he had given his daughter to his father to raise; but he died on the steps of the superheroes headquarters in Maxville. That was part of the statement that had been released upon his death.

Then Ethan frowned reading more and shook his head. He tried not to laugh out loud as he read more on how Brigid reacted to other hero school over in Richardson. She left her mark on her old school Hero High, which name was as bad as Sky High to be truthful. He also found out that her Grandfather did most of her training, believing that her previous school had been lax in its training.

His next shock was to find out her Grandfather was Guardian class, like Jetstream and the Commander. His superhero name, before he retired to raise his granddaughter, was Chaos. Chaos' exploits were legendary, not many heroes were in the same league. He had done a lot of good in his time before ostensibly retiring a few years earlier. Ethan read on and found that he had trained his granddaughter in languages; they were not listed and he wondered if no one but Chaos knew what languages he trained his granddaughter in. Hand to hand combat, he watched some of the training videos and winced at how her training had went.

As a shift in his mental gears, Ethan frowned and checked on Warren's power status and found that much like Will's and Layla's his were off the chart. All four were unusual in the extreme. He wondered what that could possibly mean. He pushed his glasses up on to his nose.

"Wow," was his soft mummer as he closed everything down before he went to the auditorium to join his friends. He was unsure if he should share the information he had learned.

In her office, Principal Powers looked up at her door opening to allow both her aid let in a very handsome gentleman, his dark blue eyes taking in everything in her room. She recognized him right away; it was Brigid's Grandfather, Dylan McShea looking at her with a look that must have melted stronger women in her place.

"Latha math Principal Powers, a good day to you, as we would say in Gaelic in my homeland of Scotland. Well how did it go?" He had a slight accent that made Principal Powers frown for she could not place it right away but with his words she now knew what language he spoke. She waved him to sit down in one of the comfortable chairs in her office. "I don't want a repeat of Hero High." He warned lightly as she waved him to sit down in one of the comfortable chairs in her office.

"She refused to show her power in Power Placement." Principal Powers said evenly. She tilted her head sideways as she considered this man before her. He seemed stern yet tough. He wore his many years with a grace that anyone but a pyrokinetic would envy. "You forbid her?" She questioned, recalling what Brigid had said to Boomer during placement, something Powers had watched fully this year.

"Yes, she lacks control. Her power is tied up in her emotions. She is not yet balanced enough to wield her gift correctly." He reclined in the chair with the misleading elegance of a tiger, causing her to wonder if he would spring up like one if the need arose. "She really should not be using her power at all." He paused; a long-suffering expression crossed his face. "She is fine at home. As soon as she gets outside it all goes to hell."

Principal Powers nodded. "And you don't want any repeats of what happened at her old school." She agreed. "I will make sure the teachers are aware and stop any funny business as they witness them to keep this from escalating and blowing up."

"Principal Goethe is an idiot." Dylan growled watching her, well aware that the woman was both a better administrator and politician then the old goat at Hero High had been. "He could not even control his own students. She is honestly a well behaved child, just irritable and her temper is easily triggered at times with certain subjects."

"Like her parents?" She nodded as he silently acknowledged the truth of her words; her gaze moving to the door Coach Boomer opened the door. "Boomer, would you join us?" Boomer nodded and entered fully, closing the door behind him and scrutinizing the distinguished older man seated with Powers.

"I'm Coach Boomer." His voice trailed away and his eyes widened as he realized just who he was facing. "I did no idea that she was your granddaughter, sir, or I would have placed her in hero class." He stammered. Meeting one of the world's guardians that did not play too much interference in the politics of the world made him feel awkward.

"Au contraire Coach Boomer, don't concern yourself." Dylan waived his words away, his accent indicating that the French expression was more than just for show. "I just wanted to go over a few things with your Principal, and yourself, if that is acceptable." He paused. "I need to know who Brigid's teammates are, for a start." So the debriefing began between the three as they decided on the future of the world in their own way. He made sure he gotten his point across and gotten his way.

Principal Powers dug up the information on Will Stronghold and the others that were part of the team that Boomer had attached Dylan's granddaughter to, handing the files over to the older man with nary a hesitation. He looked them over and smiled finding them satisfactory.

"I think they will all do just fine together." He commented, after a brief glance through the papers. "They appear to be a good group, very diverse in both powers and experience. I do indeed think they will do well together." He glanced over at Powers. "I am willing to offer my services to the school, if need be. Anything you need; money for projects for the students, back up against the administration of this school and the parents of your students..." His voice trailed away as he looked down at his watch, frowning. "However, I must cut this interview short. Unfortunately I have other commitments that call on my time. I simply wanted to make sure that we were on the same page." He studied the two younger people in front of him for a few moments. "It was a pleasure Veronica Powers." He bowed slightly over her hand as she walked him to the door. "Coach Boomer." A regal nod was given in the Coach's direction before the man left the office.

Veronica Powers sighed and slumped back against the door momentarily after closing it behind Mr McShea. "That man could charm the birds down from the trees." She commented, "He's well aware what that offer means to me, and he also knows that I can't object to it. He could run the entire school system alone if he put his mind to it." She added, moving to her desk and picking up her coffee cup. "I'm sure this is all highly amusing to him." She added, glancing at the clock. "Time for my speech." She noted, before draining the cup and leading the way out of her office and down to where the students were waiting in the main hall.

After homeroom, all the students walked into the auditorium to hear Principal Powers' speech that year, no one was sure of what plans she had for the student body. Warren looked at his comrades and noted that Layla had brought Brigid with her. Layla had sat Brigid down in the spot next to Warren; she then sat down the others filling in the spots around them leaving the two unwitting and unwilling seatmates sitting next to each other. Neither spoke, making it awkward to the others sitting around them.

Brigid looked unhappy about being dragged around by Layla, who had very strong thoughts on the moody young woman she been told to show around. Like breaking though the wall Brigid had placed around herself to keep others out. Layla knew it take some time but she wear out Brigid like she wore out Warren. She would keep at it until the other girl just gave up and accepted her and the others, Warren was not given a choice and neither was Brigid as far as Layla was concerned.

Layla had noted that and failed at hiding the small smile it brought out, not that many sat near them to notice; even though Warren now had a group of friends, the student body as a whole avoided him, no doubt because he had not dropped his aura of 'leave me the hell alone', though she knew he did not really need it. The two forced seat mates watched each other warily out of the corner of their eyes and tried not to catch each other staring as they where staring at the other.

Principal Powers looked at the sea of students sitting before her. "Welcome to the new year of Sky High." The students where sitting there hoping this would last forever so they could just go to lunch and miss the next two classes not just first and second hour. "This year is going to be completely different. Because of last year's Homecoming we are changing the way and what you are learning." She paused to hear the students all groan, she then went on. "Everyone is going to start learning skills that the other half has always learned. Hero Support will be taking Hero classes and Heroes will be taking Hero Support classes. There are also new classes on team work, as well as other activities that will help mold you all into the teams of tomorrow, which mean that school will now be longer." Another groan rose from the students, an expected, and amusing reaction, considering the circumstances. Their parents supported it in theory, but they would be less happy if they knew the real meaning behind all the changes. Powers had no intentions of creating mass hysteria by allowing the existence of the villain academy to become common knowledge.

Warren and the others all looked at each other, nearly everyone wincing at the news of longer school hours, "I wonder if being mostly a home schooled hero counts for anything." Brigid muttered.

"Maybe." Layla answered just as softly she looked at the dark haired girl. The others were startled at what Brigid had admitted. Not many superheroes home schooled their children; so much so that it was only the truly eccentric that did it. Ethan was not too surprised as the others were.

They all went back and listened to Principal Powers' talk. Finally, she said that they were to go to the different tables that were set up outside the doors and get their class schedules. School was going to be eight hours with a two-hour lunch from now on. The crew got up, followed the surging crowd out, and got their schedules. They found out that their first hour had changed, which surprised a lot of students. The class schedule made all the students feel overwhelmed. The teachers would probably make them even more overwhelmed by piling on the homework. Every single student was going to be working hard to graduate on time or to make it to his or her next grade.

Warren cursed his luck as he looked at his schedule; it was going to be hell this year, though he took comfort in knowing that the others were not going to be any better, and that they had two more years to his one. Of course he would have to return in order to continue to train with his team during their final years, but also knew that they would be the best team out there. Only the others had no idea how he felt and he was going to keep it to himself for the moment. He walked into his next class and took his seat and watched amused as everyone left space all around him in class.

He looked at his newly expanded team and made a mental note to ask Ethan to research Brigid. There was something about her that bothered him, something he was certain he should remember. He had Ethan working on profiles for each member of the team, though they still had not decided on a team name yet. Not that it really mattered they would not need a team name until they all had their hero licenses.

Will looked up at the clock after they all gotten copies of their new classes. "It's lunch time for us." He peered at his schedule and smiled. "I cannot believe they scheduled lunch." It seemed that the speech had taken much longer then they all thought it would.

Warren separated from the others in order to go get more food, he knew the lunch his mother packed would not make it through a two hour lunch. He found that the only spot left was next to the new girl, Brigid. She looked up at him and smiled, it was a small startled smile that disappeared moments after it touched her face. Her changes of expression reminded all their friends of Warren and he saw it as well. Questions about her had been nagging him. He knew he should recognize who her parents where but he was drawing a blank. He smiled slightly as he looked down at his food.

Ethan joined them finally; he had disappeared to the library once more to do more research and had not explained to any of them why. His voice was breathless when he asked the others one of his favorite questions.

"How were your classes so far?" He dropped down into the other empty seat that they had hidden from Warren in order to 'persuade' him to sit next to Brigid and waited for their responses. He hoped to engage Magenta, Brigid and Layla in conversation, though he was not sure if the other girl would respond. "I think we are going to start the study group early." He added. "I also realize that we did not have any classes yet but you all have had some time to look over your class schedules."

Warren smiled inwardly at this. He also wondered what the Popsicle was up to. He hoped that he would spill the information that was in his head soon; he looked like he was going to burst with information he had found out. The only information Layla had gotten out of him before he disappeared behind the doors to the library was that he was doing some research on villains. Warren had not even gotten the chance to pull Ethan aside and make his request to research Brigid.

"They look like they are going to be totally fun. Well when we get a chance to have them at any rate." Layla smiled warmly at her friend. She then laughed making the others at ease with her bubbly nature all save Brigid who looked like she still wanted to flee. While she enjoyed the pace for the moment she knew that eventually the pace was not going to make her happy. It was going to wear her and her teammates down. They all told her what classes they had and everyone had their schedules out so they could see what classes they had. Ethan gathered them up and with one of his highlighters he highlighted the class blocks that they were all in together.

It seemed that the afternoon they would all be training together in the new hero team training that Principal Powers had come up with. Ethan and the others noted that there would be a Gambit Run a few times a week and they were not looking forward to it. Gambit runs began your junior year in Sky High and it seemed that Principal Powers was taking this team bonding and working together thing very seriously.

Two tables over one young man glared over at where Brigid was sitting. He concentrated on her food changing it so it looked bad, even though it was still good and all right to eat. He was gathering up his courage to confront her for what her parents had done to his father, Captain Bones. He did not feel like she belonged at his school. He felt the same way about Warren Peace as well. Neither belonged at Sky High and they should be removed so their presences don't curse the student body. He feared that Warren was already bespelling Will, Layla, Magenta, Ethan and Zack. That they would end up the next huge villain group.

Brigid picked at her food, which looked unappetizing, which should have been a clue in how the other students were reacting to her. One that Warren missed for he forgotten that they had done things like that to him when he first started. They soon learned not to mess with the pyrokinetic at their own peril. Someone had done something to it which did not surprise Layla one bit. Brigid did not get along with many people well. She told them what she thought and to hell with the way they react.

"I really cannot eat this." She frowned for the look for the food was making her queasy and Zack grabbed it and scarfed it down his cast iron stomach could handle almost anything. Brigid blinked at his crassness of just taking her food from her trying to decide if she should be or not to be angry at his thievery or just laugh at him. The pressure of the newness of Sky High and her need to be alone started to get to the young woman so she laughed a little sounding a bit strained like she was way too wound up to be a good thing. "I suppose you could eat it." Shaking her head frowning at him her demeanor not to happy that he had just taken what she had without asking. "I'm going to have to start bringing my lunch. I know I don't like cafeteria food, it's never really been any good." She shook her head at her own duplicity at giving the food at her new school a chance, she knew better; lunch at any school was terrible most of the time, she frowned feeling a glare come from her left. She looked and caught the eyes of a beautiful blonde girl who glared more as she realized Brigid noticed her staring. "Layla why is that girl glaring at me?" She glared in return. "If she does not stop I'm going to stop her." Everyone was startled by the growl that the words came out with. Brigid looked ready to get up from her seat and pound Melissa Frost into the ground just for the attitude the ice girl was giving her.

Layla and the others looked and saw Melissa glaring over at them all. Her gaze seemed focused on Brigid though and Layla realized why. "Oh, I think I know, you're sitting next to Warren. And please don't fighting amongst ourselves it's not a good thing Brigid." Her soft reply made the entire table wince, remembering the break up of the two. Warren had broken it off once he gotten tired of her trying to change him for the supposed better. It would have better for both of them if the relationship would not have lasted past Homecoming night but it had; lasting for a long three months.

Brigid looked at Warren. He could fairly feel the anger rolling off her. He knew that if Melissa wanted a fight she was going to get one and he wondered which girl would come out on top of the fight.

"Is the idiot your girlfriend? " She asked not happy at all she also figured if they were a couple that the blonde would already be sitting with them. She just wanted Warren to clarify his current position. "If she is then why the hell is she not sitting over here with you already?"

While donning her anger mask to hide her inner worry. She was dreading someone finding out what her parents had done. Her parents had turned villain in much the same way Warren's father had, and the two had gone on a rampage. Her mother had yet to be caught and had a habit of reappearing at the worst moments. Her mother had killed her father, accusing him of betraying her when he took Brigid to her grandfather to raise when it became clear that she intended to raise her as a villain. This insight cost him his life in the end. Brigid prayed that no one would put two and two together and realize that she was daughter of Ice Demon and Wind Demon. It had not been easy at her other school, where they had all known treated her as though she were going the same path as her parents. That she did not deserve hero training at all. She had reacted by giving as good as she got, which didn't go down with the headmaster. She spent a lot of time in detention for fighting, whilst those she fought spent a lot of time in the nurse's office.

It had also cost Brigid a great deal emotional wise. Crying almost everyday after school telling your grandfather how bad you felt over your own behavior was not something any teenager wanted to do, and Brigid experienced it everyday at her old school. So she watched Warren wondering how he dealt with the distrust that seemed to follow around the child of a villain who was on the hero's path. She also waited for his answer.

"My ex." Warren responded. He looked at her then at the others around him. "I think she feels I'm supposed to be miserable without her. I'm not." He bent down to eat his lunch still feeling Melissa's gaze on him. He wondered if she would ever give it up. He feared his mother was right. Teenage girls never took things like this well, especially the really popular ones like Melissa.

"I don't get it." Will sighed, frowning at Warren before changing gears in his thoughts. "You need to eat something." He declared, turning his gaze onto Brigid. With that said, each member of the group gave her something from their lunches, though it was likely that they would have done it even without Will speaking.

Looking at them in shock she smiled shyly at them, a little overwhelmed by their generosity. Brigid wondered if this would be fleeting or if she had finally had some friends, though knowing them for a few hours she could feel the beginning of friendship she just was not sure if it would last after they knew who her parents where. She always wanted friends but because of her parentage no one wanted to befriend her so in reaction to that she placed up walls and took on the untouchable 'you are no one to me' attitude that had driven her schoolmates at Hero High insane with trying to destroy.

"Thank you." The surprise in her voce surprised the others. She selected something from their generous pile. She looked at them not sure what to make of any of them. She was so used to being alone that this sudden wealth of friends had her edgy. Then as she bit in to one of Layla's apples chewing she said thoughtfully. "I'm going to talk to Cook about lunch though." She pursed her lips thoughtfully not realizing the waves her comment would stir.

"Cook?" Magenta asked softly looking a bit confused. She looked up from her newly highlighted schedule at the others. She knew people cooked; her family was full of great cooks but she felt that was not what Brigid meant. She looked closely at the girl that had been dumped on them by Coach Boomer and Principal Powers. It hit her that her clothing was well made and there was something about her clothing that reminded her of Warren's gear.

Upon closer inspection Magenta realized that the jacket Brigid wore was like Warren's; it was fireproof. And she had noticed as the three girls had opened Brigid's locker for the first time today that Brigid's jeans were designer label. Very trendy, which should have made her popular yet she was on the loser track with her and the rest of Will's buddies. Even if they were making strides in being non-losers, she knew people still looked at them like they were all sidekicks, all except Layla, Will and Warren.

She also noted the temper. Which had not made her too happy, she did not want to have to watch what she said any more then what she did already. Warren was particular and now another person who was just as particular. She was not sure if she could handle it she was not sure if she could handle watching over Zack to make sure he did not say something stupid either. She did not want her boyfriend to get toasted.

Brigid blushed suddenly feeling uncomfortable then angry because she spoken before thinking, again. "My Grandfather has a person that cooks for us; for dinner and stuff." She looked at her food and ate quickly not really wanting to talk about her family life. She did not want her new friends to think she was stuck up. She sighed wondering how they feel about her grandfather's billionaire status that was his cover, despite the fact that her Grandfather's days as a hero where long over.

Layla looked at Brigid wondering why she was blushing. "Does speaking of your family make you feel awkward?" Though she had a feeling it was unfounded, for she realized that much like Warren they now had a second person that was private about their home life. It had taken them forever to get him to confess that his mother was Harmony. She wondered if they get the information they need from the source or if someone biased against her would give away what Brigid seemed bent on hiding from them as of the moment. She hoped it would be Brigid and not some random student with a grudge.

"Yes it does." Brigid looked at her. "I just don't like creating jealousy and when people find out about my family life." She winced sitting on her anger again at talking for she did not really like talking to anyone. Even though she felt that Layla and the others were different she still was not able to trust what her feelings where saying at the moment. "Not that living with me is easy." She smiled a little thinking of her Grandfather and all the stuff he put up with because of her. It had not of been easy to raise his son's daughter knowing the stigma she would bear once she got into superhero schooling. "He raised me and trained me in my powers since I could toddle around." She smiled lightly thinking of her Grandfather.

"What happened to your parents?" Ethan asked innocently even though he knew already from his library research. He had printed off the information on her and the information on the others that were his friend. He thought they be surprised at the information that the Council of Heroes already had on them all. He hoped they could pry it out of her without too much reluctance on her part before someone other then Brigid answered his question for him.

The young man two tables over walked over looking at Brigid and not paying attention to whom she was sitting with. His focus was on the young woman who's parents had killed his father. A person he was sure was just a villainous spy like Warren in their mists. Neither should ever be allowed to be heroes because of their parents crimes. Though it did not matter to him that only half of Warren's blood was villainous and even then it was only his father. His Father's family was all heroes.

"Your mother killed my father," he growled, wanting Will and the others to realize that a monster was in their midst.. "Why aren't you at a super villain academy? Or being trained one on one by a villain?" His voice snarled. He was one of the hero-type kids that Warren always found himself not paying any attention to or glaring at. Warren felt his temperature start to rise at the tone in the kids voice; the young man in question was in the same class as he was. He could not believe that the guy had the guts to come over to his table and pull this sort of stunt. "Blood always tells and yours is bad." He glared at her, not caring at the shocked faces. He had been one of the only people who recognized the daughter of Ice Demon and Wind Demon. "Bad blood of the two villains Ice Demon and Wind Demon just like Peace here Baron Battle's son." He gave Warren a look not realizing his danger from the pyrokinetic. Even though he should have known better.

Warren felt his rage bubble up, and as he stood up fire rippled around him and the kid backed off fast. He glowered and growled at the kid, half standing up to make his menacing presence known for the kid had seemingly failed to notice that he was there.

As he backed away hurriedly, he threw one last barb. "See what I mean, both are bad seeds and they will turn their entire team villain." He took off before they could react. The lunchroom cleared out of students because none wanted to be around when Warren exploded completely. The only ones who sat there were Warren's friends, and Layla put a hand on Brigid's shoulder as the girl tried to stand up. She was pale and trembling with rage. Her breathing was rapid. She was counting in a language that none of them, well Warren recognized it, understood. The sound of a loud crack of thunder startled them all.

It was also then that Warren noted that the tips of Brigid's fingers bits of lightening seemed to curl about them like silver waves. She was showing signs of how she physically called her powers to be. He knew that if anyone touched her hands right then they get a bad shock. He hoped she gain some control before someone got hurt by accident. He could feel the rage she was trying to contain within herself. He knew that if anyone could touch her it be him, his gloves would save him from the lightening that she was forming on her hands.

Outside the sky had blackened, Principal Powers looked out her window and frowned at the sudden change in weather. Lightening raced across the sky she hoped that it would blow over before the students had to leave home for the day. Thunder rumbled and startled everyone in the school with it's loud noise. She frowned momentarily, then her eyes widened, her newest student's power was weather control and it was tied up in the girl's emotions. She stood up and quickly left her office hoping she not find a fight going on when she got there. She hurried down the halls to the lunchroom were she knew the girl was at there at that moment in time.

"Sit." Layla said surprised that Warren had not burned the girl by powering up so close to her. She looked at the trembling Brigid and saw rage in her eyes she was breathing hard. Layla at that moment noticed the little bits of lightening curling around Brigid's fingers like silver rings. Her eyes widened and she made sure she would not get the shock of her life as she helped the girl she wanted to become friends with calm down. "Warren." Her voice was soft. "The idiot is gone now, power down." Her voice took that pleading note that got her what she needed from them all, most of the time. Another rumble of thunder ripped though the school, making them all glance at each other. Zack, Will and Magenta did not know what Brigid's powers were unlike Warren, Layla and Ethan.

Warren sighed and forced himself to power down risking a glance at the form of the girl next to him. She was quivering with suppressed rage. He also noted that the lightening was looking more like rings around her fingers as she tried to calm down, rage being a hard emotion just to let go. He understood that for he was feeling the same way himself. He really wanted to hunt down that kid and punch him though several walls for being such an ass himself. He figured that Brigid felt about the same way though she tried not to react to the taunts. He looked out of the window and wondered briefly if it was supposed to storm that day.

Will interrupted their thoughts by changing the subject. "Principal Powers has given each team their own classroom to be a meeting room." He stood up looking at them. Another rumble of thunder boomed though the air. "Maybe we should make use of it." They all nodded and took off to the room that was theirs. They all had a key to it and it was not furnished like a normal classroom. It had a few sofas for them to sit on and an extra long coffee table where they could work on things or eat at. They all looked at each other and closed and locked the door behind them.

"Wow." was Zack's comment. He was surprised that they would all have rooms like this. It was initially confusing to him, but then not all the rooms were being used, and he was one of the few who had noted that Sky High had expanded over the summer.

They all sat down and Will looked up at the clock. "Well we have an hour and a half to talk about what happened." He too wondered if he missed heard the weather report before leaving for school that day; the one he had heard said that it was supposed to be clear and sunny, not stormy.

Rain fell against the windows to their classroom and Brigid's gaze was on the rain. It was not supposed to rain that day, nor was there supposed to be thunder and lighting in the forecast. Yet it was doing both, nature's fury was a beautiful thing to behold while you where indoors out of it.

"Zut alors! I'm sorry." Brigid's voice was small, and there was a odd nuance in her voice that did not make any of her new teammates happy. They wondered why it seemed she was blaming herself for the sudden weather change. Only Ethan really knew she could change the weather though her emotions. Warren and Layla had guessed given what they saw. Will, Magenta and Zack looked confused wondering why she was apologizing to them.

Then outside they all heard another huge crash. Walking over to the windows Magenta blinked, seeing the rain pounding on the window for the first time. They had all been looking around the classroom seeing the different things that they were allowed to have there.

"Oh my, one huge ass storm just blew up." Magenta said knowing she was stating the obvious, suddenly as lightening raced around the sky beyond the windows. It was beautiful in a dangerous sort of way. Lightening storms always impressed her.

Brigid looked up she knew what she had to do; she screwed her eyes shut shaking herself mentally preparing for what she needed to do, getting to her feet. She looked out the window not happy about what was going on outside. She knew she was at fault. She knew she had to fix it and that would not be easy at all. She could feel the storm humming in her blood.

"I should have known this was going to happen." She said closing her eyes in exasperation at loosing her temper again. The others gathered around all watching the storm. "I really need to keep my temper under wraps." She winced at a supersonically loud crash of thunder. They all looked at her when she said it. She shivered again as she felt the temperature of her body respond to what she had emotionally unleashed on the school. "Did the temperature just drop in here or is it just me?"

"No." Warren said then he realized what she was saying. Looking between her and the storm outside the window he truly realized what her power was- weather control. Although the control part was up for grabs that was for sure. "This is you?" His voice held a note that none of them had ever heard from him before; awe. Warren looked at the dark sky and realized that two emotionally driven powers in the school were going to be members of the same team; he winced at that thought of their tempers clashing against each other. He could not help his nature and neither could Brigid help hers.

"Yes it is." Brigid answered his question her eyes still on what she just created. It be easier to leave it there and let it blow out but no; she had to push it back so it come back later like it was supposed too. Brigid closed her eyes deep in concentration, she then looked at Warren, they could all tell she was embarrassed. "I need to stand in near you while I dismiss this storm. If I don't I'll pass out." Warren looked at her as she stepped closer to him only inches away from him and she was facing the windows. "Thank you, you are warm."

He frowned not really liking her in his space but her request was fine with him, it was not like she was trying to be in his space unlike some people he knew. He also had a feeling that she would not ask unless she really needed it. Brigid struck him as someone who was very prepared to travel Life's Road alone much like he had prepared himself until Layla had decided different. He also knew why she chose that path, having their histories was not easy and it made one want to travel alone. Trust was not an easy thing to earn and he knew that was what they be doing, earning trust. He really did not feel like trying but he knew Layla would never let him forget if he didn't. Earning Brigid's trust was not going to be easy. He then realized she said he was warm and felt embarrassed but did not let it slip past his mask that she touched him.

The rest of the team noticed that Brigid's eyes had turned black and looked like there were lightening dancing there. Outside the black clouds rolled away and disappeared and the sun came out bathing the world in its light once more. Warren turned up the heat in the air about him by bringing up his own body temperature. He could feel that Brigid's body temperature was dropping rapidly. She seemed to be doing more then just get rid of what she created. After she was done she suddenly fell backward into Warren's chest. He caught her with one arm and then helped her to a seat as she looking at them.

"I can leave if you all want me to." Her voice was flat and tired from her efforts. They all knew she would be unable to leave for they could all read the signs of real power drain and it was hitting her hard. They had all experienced that, and it wasn't easy, nor did it do wonders for the emotional state.

"What else did you do?" Will asked the question everyone else was pondering. Ethan already had some ideas from his digging into her past from earlier in the day.

She answered him a bit warily as Layla made up some hot chocolate and handed it to her. Brigid took a sip and watched as Layla handed everyone a cup of the sweet hot chocolate. "C'est bon. Balancing out what I did." She closed her eyes. "I had to set the weather back perfectly to what it was before I meddled with it. It's easy to change it, harder to put everything back just like it was. It's also exhausting to say the least." She paused speaking slowly. "If I had not my Grandfather would have my hide for not doing as I aught. I'll probably get in trouble over it when I get home. I know I'll have a reaction headache from it later."

Will winced, he'd seen Warren with a reaction headache and he did not to see how Brigid's reaction to one would be. Witnessing Warren's surly attitude had been more then enough for Will. Warren smirked watching Will's reaction knowing exactly why he was reacting the way he was.

Layla looked at her, nodding absently to herself as she made her decision. She was just starting to like this girl and reminded her so strongly of Warren. The switching between languages a bit was endearing, and it made her wonder if she'd lived in Louisiana before transferring to Sky High. Layla and Warren were the only ones to understand the suddenly spoken French but the others seemed to have let it go. Language discussion could be held later.

"We don't want you to go. You're part of our team, we have to get to know you." She smiled warmly at her. She looked at Will and the others "Even if you don't want us to, we are going to get to know you."

Warren nodded then spoke up. "Boomer wouldn't have assigned you to us if he didn't think we could work the kinks out of having a new person to fit in." He looked at them then at her. "Plus if you think they," motioning to Will and company, "are going to let you slip though their fingers you have another thing coming. I think they like projects."

"Projects?" Brigid pondered an edge they all recognized that tinged Warren's voice at the beginning of their getting to know him stage was now in her voice as well. The others nodded smiling at Warren's choice in words. They had not let him get away with being a social outcast, especially once Layla had gotten to know him. They would not let Brigid get away with it either. "I am not a project." She protested much to their amusement her anger had disappeared even if it was only for a moment.

"Come on we don't bite." Magenta smiled, from her seat next to her boyfriend Zack. He smiled.

"Yeah _we_ don't. Though Magenta might in her guinea pig form." He laughed as she swatted him laughing herself at his sally.

They all settled around her and she sighed looking up at the time. There was enough of it as long as she did not give too many details. She was uneasy talking about herself. The words often failed her when she tried to explain her own life to those that wanted to listen and they had always been few far and in-between. That and she was not sure if she trusted them enough o be spilling her guts to them so readily.

"Brigid, I know you don't trust us." Warren spoke again suddenly startling everyone in the room. "You might as well try and tell your story they will keep demanding it. They like to know people's pasts even when the person in question does not wish to talk about it."

Brigid sighed explosively. "Damnit, I hate talking about myself. Makes me feel like I'm bragging." She looked at the faces around her. "And I don't know if I trust you yet."

"Have faith. We asked you to explain so don't feel that way." Layla asked her. "We promise that whatever it is, we will accept it and you. You are our teammate." Her optimism was infectious to most people yet it seemed unable to really touch Warren and now Brigid.

Brigid looked at her then at the others still unsure of what to do she shook herself feeling tired and a bit cranky as she spoke. "Ok my story, once, don't want to rehash it makes one appear," she paused considering her rest of her words. "Makes one appear full of themselves, which I am not." She let out an explosive breath gathering her courage to speak her story for the first time. To take the leap of faith and trust them as Layla asked her to do. "I was raised by my Grandfather. He told me when I was old enough to understand what had happened to my parents. About them going bad and the capers they pulled. He was mortified by what his son had done and had disowned him." She sighed spinning her empty cup in her hands. "Some kids had found out that my Mother was a famous law breaker and never let me forget it." She sighed with the memory. "Their tormenting made me angry, with my anger the storms would break out. The severity of the storm depended on how much they had pushed me. They were always bad. I don't know how much school property I destroyed by losing my temper on idiots that never learned that messing with me was a bad idea." She looked at her hands. "I'd leak lightening out of my hands." She flexed her fingers, "I'm surprised that I was not leaking lightening today at lunch."

"You did." Warren smirked lightly as she looked up from her cup suddenly. "I saw it. Little bits of silver they looked like." She growled and shook her head with a small strained laugh. "Can you call them up? Like this?" Warren concentrated a bit, a trick he just recently learned himself; a small ball of fire appeared in his hand. He frowned at it thinking he saw an eye wink at him from within the flame.

His teammates looked at each other thinking lighting balls and fire balls. Brigid's weapon physically was lightening balls. They watched as she created a small ball of lightening that raced in a circle in her hand in response to Warren's show and tell. They realized she was practicing to see if she could do it. She did not do it for long though, for she was still very tired.

"When was the first time you powered up?" Will asked suddenly, the others where wondering this too. They had already shared those stories when they were learning about each other the last half of the year.

Brigid looked up at him oddly she had stopped playing with the small bits of lightening she called forth with her emotions. She looked at her cup not really wanting to continue; she set it down on the table. She hoped they would not press. They did not, much to her relief. "Don't really have the strength to go on with filling in the details of my life. I'm sorry." She could not even draw up the anger to the entire fact she apologized for what little information she gave them.

Ethan spoke up,, showing off why he had been in the library for those hours he had spent in there. So he answered Will's question for her. "Brigid has always been able to manipulate the weather since she was a child." He looked at the others then caught her eyes Ethan then went on telling them what he found out about her. She and the others had been surprised by the amount of information he had gotten.

"You have always been able to use your powers." Magenta looked at the others. "Freaky." She sipped her cocoa. She knew it was not unheard of there were members in her own family that had been born with their shifter powers. And they freaked out their parents by shifting between forms in their sleep.

Brigid smiled wryly no anger only tiredness in her voice. "And none of you are not?"

"Point." Warren stated smirking at them all.

"What are your gifts?" Magenta wanted to know.

Brigid struggled to sit up and looked at them. Ethan smiled at her nodding to him as he spoke again. "Our new teammate 's power is weather manipulation. Although, she can throw lighting bolts. I saw some of her school fight footage at Hero High. I was stunned at the footage." He paused, his mind full of wonder. "She is indestructible, can fly when the winds lift her up but its not true flight like Jetstream." He sighed looking at her as she sat there staring at him in wonder at what he found out on her history. He then looked at her. "Your flight is inelegant as well."

"It is and landing is not that easy either." She blushed a little sighing she spoke softly about what she needed to do to keep a firm balance on herself. "When I fix what I've done it very draining when I don't have a heat source near me. I almost killed myself once not realizing I needed heat to survive fixing my own mess ups..." Her voice trailed off. "My gifts are odd."

"All of us are odd. Or we would not be considered heroes." Ethan pointed out. "What happened with Hero High? They are almost as good as Sky High."

She laughed a tight almost hysterical sound, looked at them all again. "My Grandfather soon took me out of school after he realized that I was not getting along with my fellow students. I was constantly getting into fights on and off school grounds." Warren nodded he knew how that went he gone though it himself. He felt like there was a kindred spirit before him. No one deserved the kind of pain they both gone though, not even they deserved it. Yet they both bore the scars that their parents' lives had given them. "So he decided to school me and train me at home in control and much of the other stuff that I need to know when I become a hero." She sighed looking at them. "I think I've talked enough. Even if you did all the talking Ethan, thank you. I will try and trust you all but..." Her voice trailed off and they knew why. It was hard to trust when people you thought were your friends turned on you.

"Another emotionally based super power." Ethan looked at Warren. "Most people can just call upon their abilities. You two are different from the norm and I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing." The others pondered what he said then switched to a different topic.

Warren, Will, Layla, Magenta, Zack and Ethan all smiled and told her a little about themselves. They knew that their confessions were easier then Warren's confessions. His came much like Brigid's had with lots of pauses and the others doing his talking for him half the time. He knew it would take a while to blend together with Brigid but he had a feeling it would be worth the trouble that it was going to cause in the school.

The others were going to wonder how the school was going to survive Warren and Brigid. Layla was secretly amused for she knew that there was going to be a shake up in the attitudes of her schoolmates that were not their friends. Their prejudices had to be broken and they were going to break them. Shatter then if she could help it, they were all heroes and it was about time that people stopped judging people by their bloodlines and just let them prove that they are heroes and not villains. They all looked at the clock and frowned they now had to leave their Sanctuary to rejoin the chaos that was school to go to their fourth hour class, which oddly enough was a team class.

Warren stood back as they filed into their new classroom with a teacher that they did not know; it seemed that half the staff was new. They all found seats, both Layla and Brigid sat near the open windows seeming to enjoy the fresh air coming from outside. Layla noticed that Brigid had sat as far away as she could from her and still be near the window with its faint breeze to cool her off. She shook her head amused then turned around to pay attention to the teacher. She also noted that Warren had done the same thing she shook her head not sure how much more amusement she could take in one day.

The teacher walked in her eyes looked at her students. She greeted them with her mind. _"Greetings students I am Psiloc."_ She introduced herself by her superhero name. She watched as they all looked at her with different masks of horror. _"Unlike your other teachers who can talk to you through speech I cannot. My class will be held mind to mind. I will also be teaching you how to build shields that will shield you from the strongest psi talent there is, including me."_ She paused looking at each of them. _"By the end of this class, this semester, you will be able to block out any type of psi attack to your person."_ She smiled.

Will looked at her his eyes wide. "Miss Psiloc, you can only speak mind to mind." He looked a bit more wild eyed then the others. In his speech you could tell he was trying to understand what was going on but Will was coming up short, which was normal. Will glanced at Warren and then the others trying to gage their reactions. All did not look very happy with this. "This is important?"

"_Yes Will, it is."_ the teacher answered. _"Unfriendly psi-talents are starting to crop up. You need to be able to defend yourself. An unfriendly Psi talent can control another person without them knowing which is why this class is so important."_

They all looked at each other. None of them had psychic talent and now they had to learn how to react to those that did. It was going to be a long hour. By the time they were done with the class they were all mentally exhausted. Brigid did not appear to be holding up well, but she kept right on moving along just like they did just like they all had to keep going, they were all looking forward to going home.

After school, Brigid's new friends watched the flying limo that had dropped her off at school; pick her up from school before they got on their own bus. They had given her directions to Will's house where the study session was going to take place. Layla and Magenta had also given her their phone numbers and had even given her the boys' phone numbers, so that Brigid had their full contact list, just in case.

Brigid in return gave them her address and phone number. She climbed into the car after she waved good-bye to the others. She sighed settling into her seat and fought to keep her eyes open. She was so tired. School had done a number on her.

Upon arriving home to the new mansion her Grandfather bought, she looked at the huge monstrosity and sighed. "Couldn't he have bought a smaller, maybe even a normal house?" She wondered out loud. "No, it has to be huge monstrous even." She grumbled, as she was let inside by her Grandfather's butler and he took her backpack from her as she went down the hall to her Grandfather's study.

Dylan looked up at his Granddaughter's entrance he flashed her a warm smile. She looked dead on her feet as she walked over to him and gave her usual greeting of a hug and a small kiss on his cheek. "/How was the first day?/" He asked in Gaelic.

"/Trying Grandfather./" Brigid yawned. "/I'm going to take a nap before heading over Will's house to study./" She looked at him. "/Try not to let me over sleep, this study session is important./"

They both knew she needed to study hard to keep her grades up. She was an indifferent student at any kind of schoolwork unless it was hands on. Most subjects bored her for she already knew most of them having run amok in her Grandfather's library most of her life.

He nodded as he watched her walk out of his study. "/I will send someone to wake you Brigid. Have a good nap./" He shook his head. "/She is not waking until tomorrow morning. She is power exhausted and does not even know it./" He smiled as he went back to work.

Brigid walked down the hall to her large bedroom, which was really a few rooms all hooked together; her bedroom, a sitting room and a bathroom all three of which were large and easy to get lost in. She took off her shoes at her door and dropped them off inside her door as she wandered over in a fog of exhaustion. She fell on her bed not bothering to pull the covers up as exhaustion came in and claimed her. She slept until the next morning.

One of the household maids came in waved a hand over Brigid and the young teen was in her pajamas and she tucked her young mistress under her covers with a small smile. "/Poor Miss./" the young woman murmured. "/Sleep well./"

After school Warren showed up for his job at the Paper Lantern. He smiled at Mrs. Lee and went straight to work clearing tables and helping out the wait staff. Mrs. Lee helped him practice his spoken Mandarin while he was there. He did not realize that he knew a lot more then he credited himself for.

He still could not believe how many of the staff of Sky High were still coming to his work to eat. The sight of them made him want to roll his eyes. He felt like they were spying on him for each year he went to Sky High he had gotten stronger in his power. He wondered if this year would bring other changes then his new, yet unknown, teammate.

He kept clearing tables and helping out Mrs. Lee's daughters with the tables when the restaurant got slammed as it was wont to do. He heaved a huge sigh of relief as his shift ended. It had flew by him so quickly when Mrs. Lee called out to him

"/Warren go to your study session. Your shift is over./" She spoke clearly in Mandarin Chinese to him. He shot her a grateful look. Time had indeed flown by him.

"/Thanks Mrs. Lee./" He answered back the same way without thought. His accent was so natural that it made his employers both smile. They watched him as he left and looked at each other.

"/He is growing up./" Mr. Lee stated.

"/About time./" Mrs. Lee smiled warmly. "/It is more then past time. I just wish his Grandfather would admit the boy was family even after what Barron had done. It is not the son's fault what the father has done./"

"/Sins of the Father./" Mr. Lee reminded his wife. "/Although I agree with you love. I do agree with you./" As the two took together what needed to be done for the rest of the night.

At the Stronghold house, Will's friends all gathered together opening up their books. The table was overburdened with their schoolbooks, Ethan wondered if it could handle any more. Layla looked at the time. They were still missing two members of their group; Warren and Brigid. There was some iced water and juice on the table, as well as two steaming cups of coco, which Josie had pointed out to the kids when they looked at her oddly that Warren would prefer something hot.

Magenta looked up at the clock on the wall she read the time. "They are late." She frowned knowing if Warren was anything he was always on time. Never early just on time. His punctuality could always be counted on.

"Do you think they are standing us up?" Zack said looking at his friends. He could not believe the amount of homework on the first day of school that they all brought with them. He did not want to think about their up-coming team runs that Coach Boomer was planning for them. He knew they were going to be hard.

"I don't think so." Layla spoke up. "Warren had a shift at the Paper Lantern, it just ended about a half an hour ago. He should be arriving at any moment." She paused. "Brigid, her I don't know. She seemed so tired."

Magenta nodded. "So she might not show." She sighed looking at Layla. "You really think that she was that fragged?" Layla nodded at her friend. As Layla spoke there was a knock on the door.

Will got up and answered it hoping it would be both of their missing friends. He smiled as he opened the door to see only Warren standing there. Warren walked in and glanced at the look on Will's face. "Missing someone else?"

"Yeah Brigid." Will said as he carefully closed the door remembering that his mother would get into him if she had to replace the door again. "She has not shown up yet."

"I'd honestly be surprised if she did." Warren looked at him and the others. "She was exhausted at school. Principal Powers should have sent her home early." He plopped himself down in one of the chairs. "Now let's get on with this."

_Glossary of Terms_

Dè a tha seo: Scottish Gaelic Phrase Meaning 'What is this?'

Latha math: Scottish Gaelic Phrase Meaning 'Good Day."

Au contraire French Phrase Meaning 'On the contrary'

Zut alors! French Pharse Meaning 'Darn it!'

C'est bon French Pharse Meaning 'That's good.'


	2. Bonding

Heroes Journey

By

Ragemoon

Chapter 2: Bonding

The next morning at the Peace household, Warren looked at his Mother he knew she be up and in the kitchen that morning so he adjusted his morning ways accordingly. He smiled at her and she smiled back. "Good morning Mom." Warren kissed his mother on her cheek. "How was work yesterday?"

"Morning Honey." Faith smiled at her son. "Work was annoying. Sean was there and you know how he is." She sighed seeing the anger that flashed in her son's eyes.

"Why don't you report him Mom?" Warren asked as she placed a plate of steaming hot pancakes in front of him. He put real maple syrup on the fluffy pile of cakes and sighed. His mother never bought fake brand anything when it came to food and he had to admit that the real stuff was always better.

"I know I should but then it turns into a he said she said thing and we don't need that on top of everything else life has tossed at us Warren." Faith sighed rinsing the dishes and putting the breakfast dishes that were done being used in the dishwasher. "I hear you all have a new teammate."

Warren looked at his mother oddly. "You've started talking to Mrs. Stronghold again?"

"Yes, now answer the question Warren. Don't sidestep." Faith laughed lightly at her son's try on getting out of explaining what was going on. Josie had filled her in on the new girl in her son's team mates class. She also told her of the type of powers the other girl had. She hoped that they would all be able to meld together ok. Two temperamental people on the same team was not going to be an easy thing, not for any of the others or for the two with changeable tempers.

Warren blushed lightly. He hoped his mother would not notice the color on his cheeks as he answered her. "Yes, her name is Brigid. She controls the weather or she will when she learns how to handle her emotions. Like I'm one to talk." He added in, grimacing at the other thoughts that were flowing though him. Find time for his libido to start reacting to someone. He stuffed those traitorous thoughts away and knew that a friendship first would be better.

Faith watched the emotions her son could not hid from her. She also read his emotional state like she always did and had to hide a smile. Warren's confusion, irritation and another emotion she knew he was not ready to admit to yet; was playing within him. She knew it was not easy being a teenager this day and age and Warren having her as his mother and no way to hide what he was feeling must have been harder on him. "You will both be fine. Plus the friendship would be good for both of you. Just try and not give your teammates a hard time hun."

Warren smiled at his mother as he finished his breakfast. He got up rinsed his dishes and grabbed his lunch out from the fridge and kissed his mother once more. "Off to school Mom, see ya afterwards."

"Have fun today hun. Don't get into trouble." Faith smiled watching Warren leave for school. He waved at her as he took off out the door and made his way to the bus stop.

That morning in school, Warren noted abstractedly once more that this year was going to be hell; as Layla and the others gathered about his locker. Layla looked worried, something he knew she eventually spit out with the correct prompting. He grabbed the book he was reading in the French language. No one knew that he spoke, read and wrote quite a few languages because of his mother. He liked no one knowing that about him. Warren had recognized both languages that Brigid had spoken her first day of school he knew that Layla and Magenta had recognized the French she had spoken the other day; the two were currently taking a French language course in school. He dropped his book in his backpack and looked at her.

"Spill it Hippie." His tone brooked no arguments from his red haired friend; she was surprised at his forcefulness. She knew he hated beating around for whatever was bothering anyone of his friends he always demanded that they tell him. Fire types were like that, it just took some getting used to.

Layla shot him a look for ordering her to orate what she was worrying over. She then sighed, gave in to Warren's demand and leaned on Will. Her boyfriend put a protective his arm around his girlfriend looking like he was shielding her from Warren. This thought amused the pyrokinetic to no end. "I didn't see Brigid yet this morning. I'm worried, most people don't miss the second day of school."

"She might not be back to school today Hippie," Warren pointed out to her. "She was exhausted yesterday; she could sleep most the day away. I hope she does, Brigid needs to rest, considering what she did yesterday and what happened." He closed his locker and moved into the sea of students again with his friends in tow. He felt like the scout ship for the students parted before him and his friends got though the crowded halls easier.

Ethan smiled a little. "I'm sure once she is able too Layla, she will come to school." He paused knowing more of Brigid then the others just because of everything he uncovered when he was researching her yesterday. "She is going to need our study group too," he murmured.

Magenta looked at Ethan before speaking as they all wandered to their shared homeroom, all except Warren who had a different homeroom; by the virtue of being an upperclassmen. They waved at him; he nodded before they lost him in the crowd of students. They then filed inside their homeroom and took some seats near each other. Warren made his way to his own homeroom to claim his spot. He plucked his book out of his backpack and began to read.

Back inside the other classroom, "What do ya mean by that?" Magenta asked him. Ethan shot her a look then realized that all his friends were just as confused by what he had said.

Ethan spoke softly. "She does great in physical classes. But the book learning she struggles with."

"Oh," Will said. "Don't we all struggle with it?" He felt like he himself struggled with it a bit more then the others. There were times he felt inadequate to what his duties would be. He had a lot to live up to; two superhero parents and a grandfather who was also a very famous superhero in his time.

"I think what Ethan is trying to say is that some people always assume that the new girl is some kind of super perfect being that does no wrong," Layla stated with a sigh. "Which is totally wrong." She shook her head in amazement over this line of thought.

"That's crazy, yo," Zack looked at the others. He was drumming a tune that only he knew on his desk as he bounced in place. "All new girls super perfect, ha." He was also amused by what Layla had said for it had made sense no one was perfect new or old in his school, they were all human with special abilities when it came right down to it.

"New girl," Magenta poked at her boyfriend correcting him with a small smirk. "I swear you only listen to half the conversation." Zack smiled at his girlfriend and she winked at him causing him to smile at her rebuttal of his own words.

As the teacher came in she spoke the students turned around in their desks to pay attention to her. She reminded them of their ineluctable duty of learning there in Sky High with just her presence. "Good morning students. Welcome to your homeroom. I am Miss Fae," she smiled at them. "Homeroom runs for thirty minutes. You are to talk about tactics with your teammates, if they are in the same room with you or create training programs. You may even just catch up on homework." She nodded to the students and watched them break apart into smaller groups.

Some of the students used the rest of homeroom to finish homework, some used it to start the layouts for their training programs for their teams or like Will's group, they used it to talk over tactics. The teacher was impressed by the way they all took to her words. She would have to remember to tell Principal Powers about it.

"Are you working on the training programs Ethan?" Will asked remembering Warren mentioning them over the summer. They all looked at their resident geek who dazzled them all with his brightest smile. Will knew he could count on his friend to come up with the training programs. He hoped they would not be too truculent when they started them up. "We can use the V. R. room that is in the Sanctum. My dad said it was ok," he smiled as he offered something he knew none of the others had access too. The Virtual Reality Room was state of the art. He asked his Dad and Mom if it would be ok that he and his friends made use of it for training purposes. Josie had been impressed by her son for asking and had given her consent. Although she insisted that when they used it either she or Steve would be present outside the training unit just in case. His mother understood they would want to train together outside of school as well as study what school was throwing at them together. Team bonding was the name of the game now and she was going to encourage it. She just wanted to impress on her son that their safety was her primary concern while they where in the V. R. Unit. "Mom said as long as they are present or at least one of them then we can use it," he added in remember his conversation with his mother. His friends nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, but I'm going to have to rework the team ones and create one for Brigid," he smiled happily. "I'm really enjoying this. Your mom and dad offering up the use of the Virtual Reality Room is a bonus." Ethan had taken to computer programming quickly; it was something he had always enjoyed. Creating these programs and making them challenging was fun in and of itself. He had already started his rework of the team training simulations that he come up with, adding Brigid in had not been that hard considering the research he had done on her yesterday. He just wished he knew the level of her power; she was a total unknown- a loose cannon. Knowing that would help him in creating the simulation to help her train as well as make it easier to change the team simulation. The bell rang ending their planning session.

In their next class, they all sat around Warren, it was one of those classes that all grades were taking at the same time. Warren gave them his long-suffering look that was now more amused then irked at them. He winked letting them though his mask for a moment before it resettled for the rest of the world. They knew he still prized his solitude.

They all looked up to see another new teacher. She wore an all-white pants suit and smiled frostily at the students. She was tall, with ice blue eyes and frosty white hair; her handsome face was marred by the look that crossed her face as she took in her new students. They all noticed that the temperature in the room had dropped when she entered.

Warren frowned, he personally hated being chilly and now he was cold; this was not shaping up to be a great class for him. He also recognized the woman commanding the attention of the teenagers before her and inwardly growled at the injustice of getting her as his teacher. He knew this class was going to be hell, officially now. He pondered finding out if he could transfer out; he knew that the teacher would not be able to teach without making the class suffer with him there. That angered him, for teachers should leave their personal life out of school.

"I am Morgan Frost; you shall call me Mrs. Frost. My superhero name is Lady Snow," their new teacher said. She was not too pleased at seeing Warren in her class. She was not going to let him be comfortable in her presence. She was still not happy that her daughter had dated Barron Battle's son. As far as she was concerned he was no good, just like his father. It did not matter if his mother, who had been a friend of hers before being shunned by the superhero community, had raised him he was tainted by what his father had done.

"This class is about survival in battle. Survival of yourself, your team, and the citizens you will be pledged to keep safe." She paused watching them all shiver and not feeling any pity for the students. The only students that seemed not to be affected by her cold aura were the ones surrounding Warren. She was not pleased when she noted that. "You are to read chapter one today, answer the questions and the last fifteen minutes of the class we will have a q and a session to see if you actually read the chapter," her inimical gaze took in all her students. "The syllabus is on each of your desks. I expect you to read the entire book list that I have given you as well, or you will fail my class." She sat down in her chair looking regally around the room the cold temperature made her smile.

Her students all picked up the syllabus, paling when they realized it was a hefty list of over thirty books for them to read that semester. They sighed then started to read their course book. Morgan watched them all amused, at their shivering. She supposed that Veronica would take her to task over freezing her class, but at the moment she did not care. The fact that Warren was keeping his comrades warm was making her angry. The other students continued to read as the temperature continued to spiral it's icy way down.

A few of the students rubbed their hands together as they fought to stay awake, none of them were dressed for cold weather it was still summer at the school. The cold was starting to cause them to fall asleep in their desks. One by one the students in Mrs. Frost's class collapsed on their desks in various states of frozen sleep. Their lips were turning blue and their eyelashes had tiny bits of ice attached to them. Only a few managed to fight the cold sleep, though the ones near Warren were all still awake. Their pyrokinetic friend was keeping them and a few of the students brave enough to sit a little closer warm.

Warren kept his friends warm by bringing up his body temperature as they all read their course books. He silently cursed his luck to end up in the class with his ex-girlfriend's mother as his teacher. He prayed that the bell would come soon. He also watched as the students around them soon fell into a cold induced slumber. That made his irascible temper flare at the wrongness of the situation they were all in.

Principal Powers peeked into Mrs. Frost's class and noted the students were turning blue. With in moments, she also realized that most of the class had fallen into a cold sleep. She noted that the students near Warren were the only ones looking healthy. She frowned before she spoke and noted her breath came out white. She knew that what was going on was ridiculous. She could feel the arctic temperature rolling about her making her feel cold as she stood in the door of the classroom.

"Mrs. Frost, the students need to be unfrozen to make it to their next class. Power down please. You are not Mr. Freeze and need the room in sub-arctic temperatures in order to exist. It can be a normal temperature. Don't abuse your students no matter how you feel about them," Principal Powers spoke sternly as she looked at her co-worker, and then she took in the class her eyes noting that Warren and his friends were there. She realized why Morgan reacted the way she had though Veronica did not approve of the vendetta at all. She also did not like seeing her own breath from the cold that her fellow teacher was using to try and punish someone she aught to know she be unable to touch.

Morgan Frost frowned and let go of the cold. It faded, and as it did the students all started to unthaw, some of them started to stir as the cold left their bodies allowing them to wake, color returned to their cheeks and they all noted they could no longer see their breath. They were all happy about this, most of them started the chapter over, and the cold had made it hard for them to comprehend the words on the page in fount of them.

"I will see you after school Morgan." Principal Powers gave Morgan Frost a look then disappeared. The class went on without another cold front coming into effect. The bell rang after a cheery exchange of facts from the book. All the students filed out. Warren felt his teacher glare ice daggers at his back and was glad to get on to his next class.

Back in her office Veronica let out an explosive sigh. "She promised," she said, shaking her head in irritation. "I will have to replace her for that hour. I will not have her behaving in such a manner. It's unprofessional." She took out her phone and rolled though the names of a few others who could take time out of their day for only one class. She smirked suddenly and laughed, dialing. "Hello Josie, could you possibly take over a second hour survival class for the rest of the school year?" She listened to Josie. "I would not ask Josie, normally, I know you are busy." She paused again to let Josie speak. "It is just that Morgan Frost cannot remain professional with Warren Peace as her student." She smiled, feeling grateful as Josie understood just who was in the class she was going to be teaching. "Thank you, it's the survival class," she reminded her once again. "I'll send over the overview of the class by fax right now. Thank you Josie."

She stood up, after hanging up the phone and closing her eyes to gather herself once more. She took up the outline she had drawn up for the survival class and faxed it over to Josie Stronghold to review and begin her own lesson plans. She picked up the paperwork and refiled it with the rest of the new course work that was being done throughout the school.

She prayed that the students would not break under the strain of what she was going to put them though. She knew that Royal Pain's academy would be graduating its first class that year. She needed to have her seniors ready as well as the under-classmen for this new threat. Even if the parents of her students had no real clue about the threat. Which bothered Veronica a great deal but the Bureau had tied her hands in the matter.

The Bureau of Superhero Affairs had decided on keeping what had happened at Homecoming last year under the radar. Veronica was not sure if that had been the best way to deal with that situation. The entire superhero community should know and should be taking steps; instead they were being kept ignorant as the civilian population they protected. That honestly bothered her. She took her chair again and started to work on looking over each new team, to see were they were strong and what their weaknesses were. She knew it was going to take her a while to go though them. She also realized that it was going to take them a while to mesh as true teams.

Back at Brigid's home, Dylan looked at his still sleeping granddaughter and smiled. "/Sleep girl-child, I will call you into school./" She burrowed under her covers clutching her two stuffed animals; a phoenix and a dragon. He left her sleeping in her bed and walked quietly down the hall to his study. He sat down and picked up his phone, dialing the number to Sky High he waited. "Hello, Dylan McShea here. I'm calling my Granddaughter, Brigid McShea, in for this morning. I believe she will be in around lunch today." He paused. "Yeah she is sleeping off overexerting herself yesterday." He paused again this time smiling again. "Thank you and have a great day." He hung up the phone and sighed. "/My poor granddaughter I will have to let her invite her new friends over today. Might as well test their reactions to how she lives./"

A few hours later, Brigid opened her eyes, stretched lazily and looked at her clock. Her sleep fogged mind panicked as she started to comprehend the time, and she sat straight up in bed. "/I'm late for my second day of school./" She hurried over to her bathroom, showered quickly and got ready for the rest of the day. "/I wonder if Grandfather will take me to school?/" she hurried down the hall, opening the door to his study. "/Grandfather can you take me to school?/" She did not want to have to deal with James the normal driver, plus she did not get to talk to him about her first day of school like they usually did. Considering she fallen into the sleep of the truly exhausted yesterday after school.

Dylan looked up at his granddaughter's clothing; blue jeans and a t-shirt that said 'shockproof' across her chest. She looked like a normal American student, and he had to smile. She tossed her wet, braided hair over her shoulder, and waited for him to answer her.

"/I will take you to school. Get your backpack and put on your shoes./" She smiled brightly at him and took off quickly down the hall, her bare feet making almost no sound on the wooden floors.

He stood up, leaving his office and met her at the door. He hid a smile at her tossing her cousin's beat-up cast-off motorcycle jacket over her body. They piled in his car. He handed her two paper bags, and she looked at him oddly, "/Breakfast and lunch, eat child./" She smiled at him and dug into her bagel as Dylan flew the flying car up to her school. He then parked the car, Brigid slid the binto box out of the paper bag and placed it in her backpack before exiting the car, and they walked up to the school. The two went into the office and Dylan signed in his very late granddaughter.

Brigid kissed her Grandfather on his cheek. She saw the time and heaved a sigh of relief that she could just start her afternoon classes and not intrude on any class with her arrival. "/It's lunch time. I'll go see if I can find them. Thank you for bringing me to school Grandfather./"

"/You're welcome Granddaughter,/" he responded watching as she disappeared out the door to head down to the lunchroom. He looked at Principal Powers who was just walking into the office. She flashed him a smile. He nodded at her. "Do you need my help for anything as of yet?"

"Not yet," she said her smile strained. "I have a feeling I will, but not as of this moment, no. Thanks though, I do have things covered." He nodded and left her standing there. She looked at her aid and then walked into her office to go over her paperwork. Sitting down she shook her head. "He makes your head swim just by breezing in. Watch your head." She laughed a bit at herself.

It was lunch time, and the murmur of conversation buzzed all around them, Will, Warren and the others had all settled down at their usual table. Magenta smiled, seeing someone hurry toward them, it was Brigid. She looked frazzled and irked at the same time. She also looked extremely pale; she took the only seat they had left vacant next to Warren. The two exchanged glances at their friends' duplicity at leaving that spot open. She then took out her lunch; it was a binto-style box that only Warren recognized from working with the Lee's for so long. He smiled slightly recognizing rice and sushi that were inside it. He shook his head; her lunch was giving him cravings that he knew that he could indulge in later, when his shift at the Paper Lantern was over.

"I'm sorry. I'm so late. I woke up at eleven this morning," she frowned as she spoke feeling out of sorts. "I'm making such a great impression. First I stand you all up and then I'm late to school. I don't just say one thing and do another, it is dishonorable." She let out an explosive sigh as she picked up her chopsticks and ate some sushi and rice. "I was supposed to take my first bus ride to school today too." She poked at the rice doing her best to keep her temper that was honestly still fraying around the edges making her feel ready to fly apart before too long and without too much notice. "I always keep my word." She went on with a wince. "Yesterday was the first time I've ever broken my own word." She was honestly angry with herself over it. It was dishonorable in her eyes to have given her word then not do as she said she do.

Warren squeezed her shoulder letting her realize that she did not need to feel bad. "Don't I did not expect you to be there. You were totally drained Brigid." Warren looked at her. "Don't even belittle yourself over it."

Layla smiled at her. "I realize that I'm really friendly." She looked at Brigid seeing her bristle a bit knowing they have a long ways to go to earn her trust. "Trust us, we are not going to turn on you."

Brigid looked at her still unconvinced. They all knew it was going to be a long road. Earning Brigid's trust was going to take doing, none of them minded for they won Warren's trust and they had to work at that too. Warren did not mind for he knew she did not have a choice much like he was not given one. They both adapt, eventually.

"Really?" Magenta asked, sounding puzzled. "Why, when you can be dropped off and picked up?"

"I don't want to call attention to myself." Brigid said still reining in her temper over her own anger at herself and no one else, she looked at them they could tell that she was having a fight with her highly explosive temper. "It would make me appear that I don't care about the rules." She shook her head trying not to growl like she was used to doing to people. "I want to fade as best as I can in the background. I don't want any repeats of yesterday at lunch coloring my stay here."

"I don't think fading in the background is going to be allowed," Ethan sighed, knowing that they would all have to do their best to guide the rest of the student body into learning that attacking another student was not a good idea. No matter what their parentage was. That was going to be one of their more interesting battles for between Warren and Brigid; he and the others where going to have a lot of defending to do. A lot of fixing of others thoughts toward the two, it was not going to be easy to change the judgments that everyone took of the two but Ethan knew it be worth it in the long run. "That and I don't think Principal Powers is going to allow what happened at Hero High to happen here. She's a very able principal." He also knew that Principal Powers would not want to have Nurse Spex over-worked and that would happen if the student body did not learn to respect others no matter what their parentage was. Brigid had that sort of history, she finished what others started.

Warren noticed that Ethan's words had brightened up Brigid quite a bit. He also noticed the struggle with keeping her temper and power under wraps so not to have another repeat of yesterday. He knew that she did not want to spend her time fighting with everyone. Fighting with people you would eventually have to work with was never a good thing. Brigid did not hide her emotions well, like most people hid theirs. Her emotions played across her face for the world to see, changing with startling frequency, much like the weather changed. He knew his did not show for he was used to wearing his mask of calm indifference. The contrast between them was something he talked with his mother the night before. She had been way too amused by him too. He had to wonder what his mother had been thinking. Not that he could lie to her; it was impossible to lie to the Harmony. She had told him the reason why she been amused, kindred spirits. He could see it, but he knew they were different, quite different.

Lunch had no repeats of the other day, which they were all grateful for and they retired to their meeting room. Layla and Magenta both took things out of their backpacks. Will and Zack looked confused as Layla and Magenta added touches that made their meeting space homey. The two were humming as they added some pillows, a couple of throws of different colors and some knickknacks amongst other things.

"We'll need to keep bringing things in Magenta," Layla smiled enjoying their handiwork on their shared space. "It's a start. The room will look so much better after we make it ours and not so institutional."

"Yeah it will," Magenta said hanging up a purple tapestry that had a beautiful Celtic knot-work in it. She placed it on one of the walls. "I think I'm going to try and find the colors I think represent each member of our team." She then hung up a green one. "Alls I have is a green and purple knot-work one right now."

"Why did you choose knot-work?" Ethan wondered looking at the two tapestries. His eyes started to trace the designs trying to find their ends. He realized that it would take him hours to figure out where the beginning and the ending of each of the tapestries were.

"Well, because we are intertwined as a team," Magenta said smiling. "Each one of us has some part to play." She was glad to have come up with a way to convoy her thoughts when she was looking though her things at home and found the tapestries that her Aunt Rhi had given to her when she come back from Scotland.

"I like the metaphor of the tapestries," Warren spoke up startling them with his comment. "I have a gray one and a crimson one at home I'll bring them in tomorrow, then all you have to figure out is one for Popsicle, Glowstick and Stronghold." Magenta shot him a grateful look. The others were surprised that he would have something like that. Warren just shrugged it off. "Who else has things to give up?"

"I do," Brigid said as she sat down on the love seat. She opened her backpack and drew out a large can of dark roast hazelnut coffee, some filters and a box of oolong tea. Cook had been very helpful when Brigid had quickly detoured by the kitchen for some goodies for her new friends and herself.

The others took the other seats, once again forcing the two emotional driven duo to sit together. They pretended that it was their choice and not their hand being forced by their friends. Nether were sure if they should be upset or just shrug it off, they decided that not reacting to the situation was better then giving their friends; both old and new, the satisfaction of knowing that they were driving them crazy with forcing them to be together; they did not like being the brunt of others' amusements nor having them control how they interacted with each other. When they were ready to interact with each other they would and not a moment before then.

"There, I hope everyone likes coffee and tea." Brigid smiled starting to warm up to the others though she still watched them warily almost expecting them to turn on her at any moment. The others all grinned as Layla gathered up what Brigid had brought with her and placed them in the cupboard. Layla's green skirt swooshed around her calves as she rejoined them to sit down again.

Warren had to smile a small bit over the hot drinks Brigid brought with her. He opened his backpack and set on the table before them; a box of jasmine tea, a box of chai tea and a container of sugar. The other guys looked at each other. They had not brought anything; no room decorations, drinks or even food. Warren picked them up and put them away before Layla could react to his generosity. Hunting though the cupboards Warren found a coffee machine and a tea machine. Taking them out, He plugged both in on the counter, filled them with water and prepared the coffee for the coffee maker. The tea machine just heated up the water so each one of the friends could choose their own tea.

Magenta took out some flatbread style crackers and a few other snacks that would keep with no refrigeration at all. She smiled as she put them away. There was going to be plenty of sugar filled goodness for those days that they all needed a pick me up as well as things that were actually good for them. She adjusted an apple from the fruit basket that Layla had set up on the coffee table.

Brigid watched them for a moment trying to decide if they were just acting that way because it was how they were. Or if they were going to turn on her after pretending to be friendly. She shook her head and plunged in enjoying the different feel of the interaction with her newly made friends. She was still not too sure about them and knew it would take time until she felt that they accepted her for who she was. Plus she had promised to try and trust them, so she tried.

They started to look though the cupboards themselves. They found coffee cups, some bowels, a first aid kit and other supplies that someone must have thought they would need. They all joked and elbowed each other in fun as they stepped around each other to see what surprises that were hidden within. They found snacks as well as another type of coffee and plain black tea.

"Amazing, yo," Zack said. He was dancing in place as his eyes caught sight of something that none of the others had noticed. There was a radio sitting in one corner, and he bounced over and turned it on. Soft pop music filled the room he smiled at the radio. "All of this. Awesome." He started to dance to it; not caring what any of them could possibly say to him.

"Oh," Brigid spoke up getting their attention. She smiled a little at them, took a sip of her tea that Layla had handed her, before going on with what she was about to say. "My Grandfather invited all of you over after school. He felt bad about me missing our study session yesterday."

They all regathered around with cups of coffee, tea or hot chocolate in mugs, sitting down en masse in their seats; it took a few of them a minute to process what Brigid had just offered. Gathering his wits a bit faster then his friends for once Will answered first.

"I'll need to call Mom," Will said looking at the others. "I know they will all need to call their parents too." He watched as his friends' nodded their heads in agreement.

"Not a problem," Brigid nodded. "You can call from the limo." She hoped not to make them upset at stating the obvious to them. She knew how people reacted to such bald statements normally, badly. They all laughed in comprehension that they could call from the limo that picked Brigid up. Zack continued to goof off to the music he had found. He had not rejoined them as they all sat down.

Ethan looked at her. "I wanted some clarification on your abilities Brigid. That way I can tailor your training program." He pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled at her startled look. He figured getting her to speak about her abilities would be a good thing. He did have quite a bit of information from his research yesterday on her. He just wanted some clarity. Taking possession of his notebook from his backpack, he picked up his pencil to write down notes.

She nodded realizing that she needed to tell him what she knew of her abilities so that she could continue to learn and fit in with her teammates. She gathered herself up to talk about herself again, not something she enjoyed; for she rather hear about the others and their lives. People who had normal lives were lucky. Though unlike many who have had harder lives, her Grandfather taught her that life is always sweeter then one first thought. Even those who have dramatic pasts don't have to live though their pasts, it was the present that truly mattered; not the past.

"Well," she paused then collected her thoughts. "I can only change the weather depending on the conditions. Example on a warm day I can't create a snow storm, only rain." They nodded feeling suddenly relieved that they did not have a demigoddess in their mists. "Grandfather also watches to see how severe weather is coming though and where," she paused closing her eyes. "If it's severe enough that he thinks that people could die I take a sleeping potion before bed."

"But why?" Will asked looking at the others. He was honestly startled and from the looks on the rest of her new friends faces Brigid realized that they all were stunned.

She opened her eyes; they looked haunted by a memory. "If I don't, and people die in the storm, I feel them die. I hear them scream," Brigid shivered rubbing her arms. "I die with them." She looked out the window watching the clouds trying to regain her sense of calm and failing at it. Some days it did not take much to shake her unsteady control of her emotions. Warren and the others could read her emotions easily as they flew almost too quickly across her features to recognize. She then went on her voice shook a little as she spoke, "then I feel guilty that I could not have stopped the storm that murdered them." she pulled her knees up and laid her head on her knees and closed her eyes trying to calm the raging emotions inside of herself as she spoke.

"You can't stop nature." Layla said reaching over to squeeze Brigid's hands. "That's prolly why your Grandfather gives you that sleep aid." She paused tilting her head sideways. "He knows you would try and change it and he doesn't want you reaching that far."

"He says I'm too young to reach that far. Not that I should interfere with the natural course of things," Brigid spoke softly grateful to Layla's understanding. She knew the others understood as well, Brigid felt the love seat warm up and looked over at Warren. He gave her a small smile. The warmth made her feel better. "I really should stop with the angst," she laughed at herself. "Though it's not a pleasant thought to dwell on, truthfully."

Ethan nodded filing the information in his head. "Seems that your power, though it at first appears so cool, isn't such a great thing to get stuck with. I think I'll stick with being the puddle."

Everyone laughed.

After lunch, they headed for the gym locker rooms to suit up for their first Gambit runs. The girls were talking nervously together as they suited up in their armor. They soon joined the boys in front of Coach Boomer for their briefing before their run. Coach Boomer looked at this assorted group of hero class and sidekick class students and wondered privately once more if this team idea was such a good thing. He would have to keep his thoughts to himself until he had proof that this was not the best route to take.

"Ok, here is how this is going to work. I'm breaking you up in smaller groups at first," he paused letting them take in what he said. "The Gambit is comprised of eight levels. There are exactly seven of you so I could and will do one on one sessions with you later. Now I'm breaking you up in half, well mostly in half," he paused again, looking at Brigid who made the team an odd number. "The first group is going to be Stronghold, Flower Girl, Goth Girl, and Puddle." He looked at them as they divided themselves up. "Very good, there are some smarts here."

"Um, Coach Boomer but doesn't that give one side too many hero powers?" Ethan asked hoping not to get yelled at. The others held their breath they wanted to know the same thing.

"I'll be mixing you all up all year. These groups are not set in stone." Coach Boomer looked at them all. "The first run is a puzzle run." He gazed at them as if sizing them up and grading them before they even started the run. "Each of the levels is normally stands for what power level a student is at. I've had to reconfigure all the levels. Now they are like separate Virtual Reality units." He looked at them and smirked pointing to the doors. "Move out."

They walked in front of their doors and each crew stepped in wondering what they gotten themselves into. They all heard Coach Boomer's voice. "Well kids, one of you has no powers while you are in the Gambit. You will have to figure it out and protect the one that has no powers. They are your citizen."

Will looked at his teammates as they all moved forward. At first they appeared to be creeping along down a hallway. Upon reaching a door they opened it and the world beyond them changed. Brigid frowned swaying on her feet, she felt suddenly dizzy. "I don't feel so good." Her eyes rolled back and she crumpled to the ground out like a light. That did not surprise Layla at all, she knew that the Coach Boomer would have picked either one of them, being that he seemed to have views on young women and their places.

Layla looked at the two boys. "Well I think we have who our citizen is," she went on as the boys nodded. "Will carry her. You are the strong one."

Ethan smiled as he spoke. "You know we need to decide team leaders." He pointed out. Layla smiled at him she already had an idea of who she thought should be the leaders.

"I know." Layla agreed as Will carried Brigid. "I think it should be Will and Warren." That got her an odd look from her boyfriend. "You both are good leaders even if Warren hates to think he could lead anyone. He can and he has the right attitude for it, really."

Will sighed as he carried a very light weight Brigid and they maneuvered though the maze, each having to use their powers to get though a part of the maze. The first was Ethan's ability when he turned into a puddle he passed though the maze that was within the glass of a door that was blocking their path. He followed in his liquid form and tripped the mechanism that opened the door then flowed out and regained his human form after the door burst into nothingness.

Then Will knocked down several pillars down in a pattern to get them though the next part. Ethan had figured out the pattern and Will with his super strength and flying executed the pattern to get them on to the next challenge.

They stopped suddenly, a sphinx barring in their way. "I have a riddle for you. If you solve it, your citizen remains with you. If you fail, she disappears and you will have thirty minutes to find her and get her to safety." They nodded knowing they had no choice; they had to meet the challenge.

"What walks on four legs, then on two legs, then on three?" The Sphinx asked them. "I will wait for your answer." She sat down and looked at the three waiting for their answer. They looked at each other. They also looked at Brigid who was suddenly under one of the sphinx's paws, the large mythological creature looked a bit too pleased with its trick.

Ethan looked at the sphinx and thought about the riddle. Layla twisted a bit of red hair around her finger as she pondered the question. Will just looked confused and left the thinking to the other two. Though he felt the riddle was strangely something he should know the answer of that they all should know the answer. Only he was at a loss to where he had heard the riddle before.

Meanwhile up in the control room Coach Boomer watched the split up hero team work though their puzzles. He frowned watching the readings for Warren Peace's team. The V. R. room apparently had deviated from its programming and Coach Boomer did not like what he was watching unfold in front of him. He hit the com button. "Principal Powers you might want to come down here. The V. R. room with Peace and his two teammates is starting to get odd readings. I think it's changing the game and I don't like it." He growled unable to abort the program while it was running. He was about to loose his temper and break the machine to bits if it did not start to act the way it was supposed to act.

"I'll be right there." Principal Powers said from her office. She soon joined him and they both watched in horror as the V. R. room glitched and threw something at the three they where not expecting. Principal Powers drew in a shaky breath as she watched in horror at who the V. R. room was throwing at her students. For she and Boomer could not interfere the room had locked them out and was not aborting the V.R. Simulation even though Boomer was hitting the abort button sequence.

Within the chamber the three watched as the landscape suddenly shifted. It had become barren and desolate, nothing moved. Warren frowned. "I don't think it's supposed to be doing this." He looked at the other two they did not look happy. Warren kept his calm mask in place even as his instincts shrieked at him of the danger he could sense was about to hit them.

The room resettled around them; they all felt it warm up quickly they were soon sweating. It was then they realized that the room was on fire. They then heard dark laughter coming from behind them; turning around their eyes took in a face they hoped to never meet in real life- Barron Battle stood before him in all his insane pyrokinetic fury. He laughed at them as he suddenly attacked them without warning. He hurled fireballs at the trio. Zack and Magenta both noted while they dodged that Warren tossed his fireballs the same way. Warren started to toss fireballs back at him. He wanted Barron to focus on him and not on his two teammates. He did not want either Zack or Magenta getting fried. He knew he could handle the heat, he was immune to fire after all; they were not.

All around them the landscape burned with flames that Barron battle called into being. Warren noted distractedly that he was seeing those lizards once more playing in the flames. He growled inwardly at himself as he forced himself to face the reality of the situation. If he did not think of something quick his teammates would be toasted and he found he did not like the idea of loosing them at all. Not that he'd admit that to them at this point in time but he knew that he would miss them if they were taken from his life. He did not want to be lonely anymore. He knew that eventually Brigid would feel the same, he hoped that she not take as long as he had to realize it.

The illusion of Barron Battle taunted him, "So you think you can play with fire boy." He laughed chilling them all as he powered up more and tossed a huge fire ball at Warren sending the young man flying though the air and into a wall. Warren felt the intense heat from the ball of flame and then felt himself connect to the wall and that was the last thing he felt as darkness claimed him.

Magenta watched in horror as Warren crumpled against the wall clearly knocked out. She looked back in terror at Barron Battle wondering if they were about to die as Barron faded from view as well as the landscape. They looked at a blank room; Zack and Magenta ran over to where Warren was laying. Magenta was very unhappy for he was laying a bit too still for her liking. She realized that the walls must have been reinforced to withstand super strength which was why Warren had not broken though the wall after taking the hit from his father.

Zack spoke in a hushed voice. "He's breathing Magenta." She sighed looking at her boyfriend as he drew her in his arms. "He'll be alright, Warren is tougher then all of us combined. He will pull though." He was not sure if he was saying that to reassure him or her; he had a feeling it was a little of both.

Nurse Spex, Coach Boomer and Principal Powers all rushed in the room to their aid. Coach Boomer found himself carrying the knocked out Warren to Nurse Spex's office while Principal Powers reassured Magenta and Zack that Warren would be well taken care of. She also talked to the other three as well. Their session had been aborted before anyone could answer the question posed to them. All five of them watched Warren's comatose form disappear into Nurse Spex's office to be taken care of.

Principal Powers allowed them to just go to their meeting space for the rest of the school time to regather themselves. She promised them that their teachers would send them their homework to complete. She wanted them to have a chance to talk over what happened and to watch over their teammate and friend until he woke up.

She needed to go make a phone call so she left the students in their meeting room and went to her office she had to call Faith Peace and have her come and look over her son. She dreaded the conversation but knew it needed to happen.

Warren woke up in the infirmary with his friends; all crowded around him. He noted that his mother was also standing there looking a little worried. All of them smiled as he woke up. He realized that he was in a hospital gown and his leg was in a cast. He shifted and frowned as his chest screamed at him dully. He touched his ribs and realized that they where wrapped.

"Good to see you're still with us Warren," Layla said. She looked worriedly at him. "You gave us quite a scare you know." She felt Will squeezed her shoulder, she looked up at her boyfriend and exchanged a small smile with him. Both had been worried about what had happened in there other V. R. chamber. Warren had not reacted well to what he had seen, nor had he been prepared for the physical reality that the V. R chamber could throw at him or his team.

Brigid leaned against the wall near the door trying not to take up too much space. She watched their interactions and wondered to herself if anyone other then her family could care about her the way as Warren's friends cared about him. She knew she wanted what they had, but could she trust them enough to let them all in, only time would tell. So she silently watched.

"Glad you woke up just in time to leave school," Ethan added ruefully to the pyrokinetic. He was glad that Warren had woken up. He knew the others felt the same way, not that they would not have stayed until he woke up. All eyes were on him, Warren did not like the feeling of being scrutinized so he decided to try and deflect their concern with his own questions.

"Was Magenta hurt?" Warren looked at them his mind comprehending what Ethan had said switched gears and realized what they had said. "I slept though school?" They all nodded, he looked at his Mother. "Mom, why are you here?"

Magenta looked at Warren confusion clear on her face. "No I was not hurt, you were." She looked at the others. "He does not remember..." her voice trailed off.

Zack spoke up, "Dude you took a blast that should have killed you. Ouch, Magenta that was my foot." He looked at Magenta, who had stepped hard on his foot to stop whatever else he was going to say. Zack sighed giving into the silent plea in Magenta's eyes. He then looked at Warren. "You don't remember what really happened do you?"

His mother saw the confusion in Warren's eyes she then spoke in a quiet tone of voice, one that she knew would soothe her temperamental son. "You got hurt bad in the training setting Warren," Faith Peace said softly. "You fractured your leg and broke three ribs and bruised all the other ones." She looked at her son. Her worried look did not soften, that was when he realized she was in her Harmony outfit. "I still need you to go with your friends to the study session. I am not going to be home, I am needed at a peace conference."

Warren nodded. "Mom?" His voice full of questions he did not want to ask with an audience, questions Faith recognized and answered so he would not have to form them.

"After the study session you will return with Will to his parents' house," Faith sighed with a small smile gracing her face as she took in her very strong son. He was her miracle for he was nothing like his father. Warren, no matter what his fears were to the contrary, he would never become his father. He did not have his father's fatal flaws- no compassion and no remorse. "I already asked Josie. The conference is going to take all week."

She watched her son groan and eye Will. "Mom, I can take care of myself." Warren knew that was a lie but he did not want to stay at the Stronghold's, he still was not sure of his welcome there even after knowing Will for a year. Though neither of Will's parents ever referred to him as Barron Battle's son he knew it was a conscience choice to refer to him as the Harmony's son.

"How are you going to get up to your room?" she asked him, she watched as he stubbornly gave in to what she just pointed out to him. "You are on the second floor, we have no elevator to take you up there." Warren sighed knowing his mother was right, he just wanted to be irrational about it and he knew that in his semi-drugged up state; it was hard to keep a pyrokinetic drugged for the drugs burned out of their systems too fast; that he might let his mask slip more. He was not ready to let Will see him in such a weakened state. Nothing ever infected a pyro long which is another reason why Warren would never have a sick day, his body was too warm for a viruses to infect him.

Nurse Spex came in and shooed his friends off. She smiled at Faith who also left with Will and the others. "Lie still Warren, I need to look at you before you leave." She checked him over. She handed him the prescription that his mother had gotten filled out for him. He read what it was and his eyes widened. "You can go. Just remember to rest and don't emotionally strain yourself."

"Yes Nurse Spex," Warren agreed as he joined his friends. "So what did I miss today?" he wheeled himself out to them. He sighed, not liking being stuck in a wheelchair at all. He hoped that none of them would get the brilliant idea to try and push him around while he was stuck in it.

Nurse Spex and his Mother stood there watching the teenagers go off. Nurse Spex turned to Faith, "Your son is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome."

"I noticed, he will never remember what happened." Faith drew herself up before speaking again. "It is better that way I think. He did not react well to the virtual reality version of his Father at all. He seems to have replaced it with a delusion of grandeur though, which is also not healthy."

"No, he did not and a delusion of grandeur his mind came up to cope with seeing his father's depravity first hand is undoubtedly a blessing as well as a curse." Nurse Spex shook her head. "I watched the tapes along with you, Boomer and Principal Powers." The two women looked at each other. "Luck on the conference Harmony." Nurse Spex smiled as she watched Faith draw herself up and nod. She watched as the other woman left to go do her duty, which was not as flashy as Jetstream's. Nor did it get the news coverage as the Commander's exploits, but she was still vital to the world's peace.

Meanwhile the teenagers were descending upon the transportation that Dylan had provided for his granddaughter for the evening, It shimmered in the light of the sun. The driver was already in place opening the door for the teenagers. They all piled in the limo settling into the leather seats they all looked at each other. The interior of the limo was plush.

The driver reached out to help Warren into the limo. The pyrokinetic glared at the driver, shook off his assistance, hobbled into the limo and dropped down hard into the seat next to Brigid. He glared at the others almost daring them to say anything. They for once kept their thoughts to themselves. The driver folded up the wheelchair and placed it in the trunk; he would remove it once they arrived at the mansion.

"Not much," Will said; he and those that were with him were still in the dark about what had happened to Warren and the others in their run though. Magenta and Zack both were unwilling to talk about it. Whatever had happened had unnerved them completely. He hoped that they would learn what happened eventually, secrets were not a good thing for them to be keeping from each other.

Warren grunted not sure if he believed them. Though he noted that Will had carried his backpack with all the homework he had undoubtedly had from missing his afternoon classes after the training run. He watched his friends noting their expressions with the wealth that surrounded them even in the limo. He realized that Brigid lived in a much different world then any of them. Yet she did not act like anyone who was extremely wealthy had the tendency to act. She was very down to earth, he pondered; much like the others; if her grandfather had anything to do with this different attitude toward wealth that she had. Refreshing as it was to all of those surrounding her.

Brigid looked a bit embarrassed, not realizing she was being scrutinized by her seatmates, before handing the phone to Will to make his call. After he was done he handed it to Layla and the phone was passed around as they explained to their parents were they were going. They were all a bit surprised that their parents already knew where their after-school destination. Warren was the only one who had not needed to make a phone call. He looked down at his fractured leg saying nothing to no one.

"Your Mother mentioned that you have always been a quick healer ever since you've powered up." Layla said softly holding Will's hand. "I don't think you will be in that cast for long."

"Two weeks maybe three weeks at the most. I heal in half the time of a normal person." Warren admitted ruefully with a small strained smile. "What happened?"

"I don't know if we should talk about it." Magenta said looking at him. "It was terrible; I hope that we never have to go though it again- never ever." There was something in her voice that made Warren not press his suit to know. He could felt the fear that she was holding within herself, fear for him or about what happened he hoped that eventually he would know.

Warren looked at her then let the subject drop; something that Magenta was grateful for, they arrived at Brigid's home; it was a mansion on the more trendy side of Maxville. It was also isolated; as it was in the middle of huge grounds, well manicured met wilderness within the lands that Brigid's grandfather had found for himself and his granddaughter.

They were all stunned at the size of the home that Brigid lived in. They looked at her their expressions were various as they looked at her realizing suddenly understanding why she reacted the way she did. She blushed under their surprised gazes. They landed and the driver came over and opened the door as they all got out of the limo; Zack, Magenta, Layla, Brigid all walked up to the front door. Will carried Warren and his chair up the stairs to the door. Warren was looking positively stormy about his situation. Will set the pyrokinetic down and Layla shot Warren a look as he realized that in his shimmering rage that he'd heated up the chair for Will was blowing on his hands. Warren growled lightly and took a firm rein on his emotions knowing that this was going to be trying to him.

Brigid sighed, looking at her home and seeing the various looks across her new friends' faces. She inwardly winced it was about what she expected, that did not mean she had to like their reactions. "It's monstrous. I just wanted a nice small normal house but no. I have to live in this." She shook her head motioning to the grounds and the house itself; as the butler opened the door. "Give Jervis your backpacks guys. We have to go see Grandfather first." They handed the older man their packs. He took them without question nor did they seem to strain him at all. "Thank you Jervis."

Jervis nodded holding on to the packs that to him were not heavy at all they where light as feathers; then again that was part of his power. Making things lighter then what they were although the power only worked for himself. "You are most welcome Miss." He disappeared down the hall leaving the teenagers to find their way to Brigid's grandfather. Jervis deposited the backpacks in Brigid's rooms where they would find them. He then tidied up the room a little bit shaking his head that the teenage girl's neatness. It always surprised him how she was about everything being in its place.

Brigid led them down the hall. "I know this is a lot to take in. I'm-," she stammered feeling embarrassed. "This is why I lose friends. They think I'm just trying to buy them off. Or that I'm showing off to make them feel like I own them or something..." She finished off in a rush a faint blush colored her cheeks, a blush that none of them felt was going to truly disappear while they were all there.

Layla was not too surprised by the confession as the others where. Layla had noted the shyness and how withdrawn their newest friend was. Even with her hair trigger temper that was bound to go off if someone provoked her in the wrong way. How anyone could think what they did of Brigid astounded her. Not everyone who was rich were braggarts, she had an uncle who was making quite a bit of money selling natural cosmetics. His line at the time was worth millions. Not that she told anyone about him or it either so she felt for Brigid in that way.

Warren looked around everything in the house was old, antiques. There was not one bit of modern furnishings anywhere in the house as far as he could see. It gave the house a charm he could not honestly deny. Warren knew that the furnishings were worth a lot, just because they were old, yet he wondered if the more modern technology was hidden. It had to be hidden and hidden well for he did not see any superhero being without technology.

Will frowned looking around it then hit him why he seemed to remember this place so well. His Mother had given him a tour of the house before she sold it off. He had been impressed by the empty building then; he was more impressed by it filled with Brigid's family's things. There where things to look at everywhere his eyes were delighted by the sights.

Ethan looked at Zack and Magenta both looked at him in awe, then Magenta winked at him. Ethan suddenly felt uplifted he knew that everyone was taking the different bumps along the way well. He looked at Warren wishing once more he could read the young fire master. Warren rolled along beside them all his eyes roaming the halls. His silence was unnerving, in a way Ethan felt Warren was punishing them for their refusal earlier to explain what had happened in the Gambit.

Brigid opened the door to her Grandfather's study. "Grandfather I'm home with my friends." She spoke in English so they all understand what she was saying. She did not want to offend them any more then she thought she was just because of the house and the way the house was furnished.

Dylan smiled at the youngsters. "Good eve to you all." His heavy Scottish accent made him almost hard to understand. Yet he managed to make his words understandable to them. "I hope you all will stay for dinner. It's a special treat, pizza. Go show them your rooms Granddaughter and show then the parts of the house that we use."

Layla stood there feeling stunned. There was something about this man sitting behind the oak desk. Something very different, she just could not figure out what it was. He did not feel like most people. He felt close to her element but that was ridiculous. He did not have any earth-type powers. She unlike the others had noticed that there was no iron at all in the house. She thought that was odd.

The thought of pizza for dinner made the teenagers smile and make various sounds of excitement. Brigid nodded , smiling then frowning at the thought of showing off the wealth would make her feel. She offered her grandfather a small smile that was not too strained; yet he could see it. He understood what she was feeling but it was the only way. They had to get used to what she was normally surrounded by or else their friendship would be strained all their lives.

Dylan was amused knowing his granddaughter was undoubtedly the most happy with this idea of dinner; a non-formal dinner. Then showing her new friends the mansion, she hated it for it was too huge and she felt that it was too much.. Dylan knew that the informal dinner would be a treat, one that he was perfectly content to allow when she had her friends over. He planned on keeping that thought to himself. He wanted to see how long it took them all to realize that when they all came over that dinner was always an informal affair.

"Thank you Grandfather." She flashed him a smile that he wished she would always wear but he knew better than to think she would wear it often. She took her friends with her down the hall. She stopped turning to look at them all. She noted the looks on their faces which were various states of emotions. The only one she could not read was Warren. He had drawn his mask up again.

"Ok," she started looking at them. "I realize that this is all quite a shock."

Before she could go on, Will spoke up looking embarrassed. "I knew this was where you were living." The others shot him looks of astonishment. "My parents sold your grandfather this place." He flushed scarlet. "I just did not realize it until we walked inside. Mom was afraid that they would never sell this monster of a house."

Layla laughed suddenly, her voice ringing down the hall. "Well your Mom keeps selling houses to our friends lately doesn't she?" It then hit Layla that Will's mother had also hired someone with powers to change different metals into other metals. She remembered hearing her own mother talk of the Metal Smith, who must have changed all the iron into copper or bronze. Josie would have been perfectly content to do that so she could sell the monstrosity of a mansion.

Warren caught the reference to the fact that Will's mother had sold the new house that he and his mom just moved in. When she was finally able to reclaim her place in the superhero world, she could finally afford to move up and get out of the small house they were renting. Warren's eyes took in all the opulence and could not help but feel the tug of envy that he always felt when he visited his friends' homes. He could not be mad at them for having better lives then he did. Or having the ability to live in comfort or luxury that until that year he and his mother had been denied. He sighed as he and the others followed Brigid on their nickel tour of the monster house as she had referred to it. He was honestly amused and agreed with her dubbing it the monster house. He could not get over how she turned red as soon as they reached there. She was not your usual rich child, she was more down to earth even normal. Warren had a feeling that it had to do with how her grandfather raised her. He seemed the type to impress that wealth is not everything to life. He rolled along as the others walked grateful that no one was trying to push him along. He would have snapped at them if they had even tried, he was more then able to push himself along after them.

Brigid opened a dark oak door. "This is the library, I spend most my time here if I am not in my room." They followed her in and Ethan thought he died. There were books everywhere, from floor to ceiling. He noted the ladder to climb up to the top was on a library rail so it could be moved around the room. You could smell the leather. Comfortable chairs were scattered about the room with tables and reading lamps to make the reader's enjoyment of the book they were reading much easier. There were maps under glass and other things here and there in the room.

"Wow," Ethan said his eyes widened. He wondered if he could use the library as an excuse to visit more often it looked extensive and he was itching to go and look though to see what Dylan had collected over the years and what knowledge was within these walls.

"Well now we know Puddle's part of the house," Warren spoke up looking from his wheelchair at all the different types of books. "It's even dewy decimaled. That's eccentric."

Layla nodded as they all followed Brigid out. Layla noticed something else there were a lot of plants everywhere. All were well taken care of she could tell. She smiled. "You've a lot of indoor planets."

"Grandfather likes to be surrounded by nature," Brigid smiled as she spoke. "He says it makes the house feel more balanced." They walked farther down the hall. She opened another door. "This is the conservatory." They walked into a room full of tropical planets. The room was warmer then the other rooms that they had gone though, within moments they were all sweating; well Warren was not sweating, but the others were.

Layla smiled seeing the tropical birds flattering from branch to branch a few monkeys were even looking down at them. She looked at Brigid in question. The others were just as entranced by all that was in the conservatory.

"The lot of them should be going soon to be replaced by others." Brigid looked up at the animals missing the look of horror on Layla's face with her words. "Grandfather helps heal them then they are released into the wild." Layla's look of horror slipped off her face and Will hugged her closely.

Magenta looked up at them. "Wow, he helps out hurt animals."

"This place so rocks so far," Zack smiled bouncing in place.

Brigid nodded not realizing the scene she neatly sidestepped. They went on to the next space down the hall. Zack noted that they did not go though every door. They went though a lot of doors in the quick tour Brigid gave them. She turned various shades of red during it, which made her new friends feel that she was truly being honest with them. They came to her room after seeing a ballroom, the kitchen, a formal dining room, a billiards room as well as a pool room; where they could swim if they wanted to. Brigid had not shown them the music room for it was on the other side of the kitchen and she did not feel like back tracking across the house to show a room that she felt would bore them. So she had not even mentioned it in her tour.

She sighed opening another door. "Here is my room, erm rooms." She drew them in closing the door behind her. They all looked around themselves. There was another bookcase filled with paperbacks, a sofa and a chair. On the stone coffee table sat their backpacks. Someone apparently gathered up cushions for them all to sit on that could not fit on the sofa. The room's colors were black, gray and crimson. There was also firewood laid in a fireplace near were they would be sitting.

"Dude, where do you sleep?" Zack wondered not seeing her bed. He could not believe the size of the room either. It was larger then his own room at his house. It was about the size of his living room at home.

"I need a bathroom," Ethan complained suddenly.

Brigid nodded in acknowledgment of Ethan's need and opened a door. "Here is the bathroom."

Ethan grateful walked though the door and shut it behind him. He had to stop short and admire the spa type bathroom for the moment before using the bathroom himself. After joining his friends; he noticed that they had taken out their books from their own packs. He dug out his books and added them to the pile.

Brigid looked at them. "Well, now that we are together again." She stood up and showed them another door. This door led to her bedroom. There was a fireplace; no fire was burning there at the moment. She slept in a queen sized four-poster bed. This room's colors were the same as the room before it. There also was a small reading area with a book sitting on the table next to the chair.

Warren noted rice paper screens covering one wall. They should have stood out, but they did not for they were as dark as the rest of the pieces in the room. He was amused by the infusion of East and West in her space, he was the only one to notice the Asian influences on Brigid's space, then again he had worked for the Lee's for years. He would recognize the influences the others missed. He noted that the sofa in the other room had a dragon and firebird motif on it.

"Everything in here is weather proof." Brigid sounded a bit embarrassed by the confession. Warren felt for her a bit. His Mother had finally been able to afford to get him bedding that was fireproof, now that she was active again as a hero. "Grandfather did not like having to fix my things all the time so he made sure that all my things could withstand the elements."

"Mom said the same thing to me." Warren's eyes roamed the room, not looking at any of his friends. "She said she did not want me to have a nightmare while she was gone and set her new home on fire. So she got me fireproof bedding and set up a personal sprinkler system in my room. And I hate being wet, so I personally am praying I don't have any nightmares that cause me to flame on."

Brigid nodded feeling his pain. "Nightmares are not good." They all went back into Brigid's sitting room and did their usual figure out where to sit. Everyone found a seat that suited themselves Warren rolled close to the coffee table, he for the time being came with his own seat. Layla had to smile at that. The two where kindred spirits and she wondered how the others could miss it. She saw a strong bond of friendship developing between Warren and Brigid. It would take time, but good things always took time; look at how long it took her to get Will to realize how she felt about him.

Zack looked over at Brigid and asked her. He felt this stomach give him the 'I'm gonna make a noise' warning. "Hey, your cook mentioned we could go back and get a snack before dinner."

"Oh the bottomless pit speaks," Magenta teased her boyfriend. "You might as well give him the directions back to the kitchen. He will not be able to think if he is thinking about his stomach."

Brigid nodded and gave Zack the directions to the kitchen from her room. She then explained how to find his way back. He nodded and made his way to the kitchen. He peeked in and saw Cook. She was a fairly large woman who took to her profession a bit too well. She smiled when she saw Zack appear.

"Here you go deary," Cook said, handing him a plateful of chocolate chip cookies. Zack could feel the warmth of the cookies though the plate. "Take this back with you. You remember the way? I have no one to guide you back right now," she asked kindly to his nod she let him return to his trek back to Brigid's room.

Zack nibbled on a cookie and realized he was lost. He had forgotten how to get back to Brigid's rooms. He opened another oak door and found a sunny sitting room. He shook his head; out of curiosity he opened another door a bit farther along and found another study lined with more books. He had to smile a bit for Brigid had not shown them every room in the huge house she lived in. Just when he thought that his was never going to find a room that was cool, he opened another oak door and almost dropped the platter. He set them down on a small side table in the room as his gaze was filled with musical instruments. He saw several guitar cases, a floor harp, a baby grand piano but what had arrested his attention was the drum set.

"Wow, cool a music room. Look at all these instruments!" his overly happy loud voice carried in his excitement all the way back to the others. Then they heard the sound of drumming after his words.

Brigid stood up. "Seems he found the music room, which is on the opposite side of the house from us." She shook her head. "Come on I'll show you. I didn't actually think it would be of interest." Her voice trailed off as she led the others to where Zack was still playing the drums like a mad man.

Brigid watched as Warren rolled over to a guitar, picked it up and began to strum on it. Then Layla wandered over and uncovered the floor harp and ran her fingers over the strings stirring up a beautiful melody. Will looked at the piano with distaste. Ethan and Magenta both noticed the look that Will directed to the piano.

"Will, what ever did the piano do to you?" Magenta asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"My mother made me learn to play when I was little. I'm grateful for feigning super strength as long as I did because it got me out of the musical lessons. Mom did not want to have to replace the piano if I forgot to modulate my strength," Will admitted with a blush; interrupting their conversation was the beginning of a familiar song.

"I wanted you to know that I love the way you laugh. I want to hold you high and steal your pain." Warren sang the first part of 'Broken' by Seether as he sung the words of the song; Brigid joined him singing the part done by Amy Lee. Her voice was not bad; her new friends could tell she had training as a singer along with the instrument she was playing. The two wove the music of the song together as they played the guitars in counter harmony. After they finished singing together they refused to look at each other, both were embarrassed by what they just given away. Warren almost never sang for anyone but his Mother.

"Wow," was Layla's comment. "That was beautiful you guys." Everyone was pretty much speechless as Brigid put away her guitar, Warren echoing her movements. He was watching her out of the corner of his eye. He had been surprised at her taste in music. Then again they all had a lot to learn from each other.

"Thanks Layla." Brigid said feeling shy all of a sudden. "I don't usually sing in front of others, well other then my family." She finished snapping the case closed. "I learned to sing with my cousins. They taught me how to play. My family loves music, all kinds of music."

"Neither do I," Warren admitted feeling like he just let another side of him slip out in front of Stronghold and his other friends. The fact that Brigid sung with him touched a part of him. "Thanks for the song Brigid."

"You're welcome Warren," Brigid blushed, Warren found he liked seeing her like this- happy and calm even if a little embarrassed. "I just could not help it, I've sung that song with my cousins." She shrugged helplessly. "I just happen to know it. We don't always play modern music. Grandfather loves classical and other instrumentals or old traditional Celtic songs." She looked at them. "Maybe if you like at a later time I could sing to you some of the traditional songs I know in Gaelic?"

"That sounds cool." Layla smiled at Brigid, she had a feeling she knew what that had cost her friend; both her friends, letting little bits of yourself away to others was always hard, especially if you were as private as Brigid and Warren were.

Before the others could make comments of their own; they heard the door open to the music room; one of the servants popped their head's in to smile at the teenagers. "Ah there you all are. Dinner is on the sideboards. Go eat now." She smiled at them disappearing back to whatever work she needed to do.

They all smiled as Brigid lead them to where the food was waiting for them. She nodded at her grandfather watching as he picked foods from the sideboard himself. There was three different types of pizza; one with everything on it, one with all veggies, one with all meat. There were BBQ wings, hot and mild. Bread sticks, garlic and buttered. A Greek salad was also there. On a second sideboard they noticed dessert was also out already. Cream puffs, cookies, cheesecake, chocolate cake and two pies.

Each teenager grabbed what they wanted to fill their plates. Layla sat next to Will and smiled at Brigid and her grandfather. "Thank you for the vegetarian choices."

"Well," Dylan smiled. "As a host you are supposed to take in all your guests likes and dislikes." He looked at her. "You do not eat meat so the vegetarian choices on the sideboard."

The rest smiled and Dylan watched as they ate. He had to laugh inwardly at the extreme appetites of the young men of the group. The boys had gone back to the sideboard five times; the girls only twice.

As the teenagers ate their desserts, Dylan disappeared back to his office. They stood up together and left the room. The others felt odd about leaving dirty plates. Brigid noticed their looks. She sighed. "I know it's different but the plates are already gone." They turned and found that she was right. The plates, the left over food, all was gone from the room so quickly it could have been magic.

Returning to Brigid's room after dinner to continue their study session, that had been interrupted by a musical interlude and dinner, they sat in her sitting room. Brigid sighed reaching for a safe topic to talk about before they dived into their study session. "I wish I had a fire starter." She looked at the logs sitting in her fireplace. "My room feels chilly and a good fire always warms it up well."

The others looked at Warren; Brigid missed the looks the others gifted the pyrokinetic with. He glared at them forming a fireball in his hand he wheeled over to a startled Brigid and laid the fireball on the logs, which caught aflame within moments. Brigid smiled seeing the salamanders reappear in the newly laid fire. She watched as Warren's eyes got wider and his mask carefully fell back into place she thought she missed it.

The magical lizards of fire prowled around the newly kindled fire like kittens. They swarmed over every log making a puckish smile grace Brigid's lips for she knew that she was not the only one who saw the magical creatures that inhabited this realm. Though she did not pin any hopes that any of her new friends would have that sight. It was a rare gift the gift of magic almost as rare as being a superhero. Though there where many different types of magic being practiced in the world. She wondered if any of the super heroes knew how much magic was used for both good and ill effects on their world.

Then one of the salamanders spotted Warren, 'Warren,' he heard within his mind as the salamander launched itself at the young fire wielding man. He barely managed to keep his mask in place as five salamanders cavorted around him. They warmed him like kittens and like kittens their claws actually prickled him. He did his best to keep a mask of calm indifference in place for he felt like he was going mad. He swore they were singing to him and saying his name within his mind. His mind pointed out to him that in any flames he'd been around lately seemed to be filled with creatures of fiery myth. He just was not ready to admit that he was seeing them.

Brigid also fought to keep her look of surprise hidden well. Watching at the others, she could tell they were not seeing what was going on with Warren or one of them would have said something. She realized that they must not see the magical creatures of fire. She just wondered how she would broach the subject with Warren. She would just have to wait for an opportunity to present itself and if she was lucky it would be soon.

Rolling back over to the table Warren pretended not to see what he was currently seeing. One of the salamanders was still in his lap. The little creature was purring at him. What Warren did not realize was that the creatures were healing him as they played around him. By the next day he would be fully healed and able to take care of himself. He looked up at his friends and spoke the question that had been bothering him. "What do you mean I did not heal Magenta?"

The others looked at each other, all were uneasy but Layla took a deep breath and spoke softly. "It didn't happen Warren. You can't heal from what we were told you overreacted to what the simulation had tossed at you." She paused. "Apparently Zack made a wrong choice."

"Yeah he did," Magenta sighed looking up at Warren. "We were told not to tell you what happened. It was horrible you overreacted because of it. What you saw pushed you beyond reason Warren. It scared the hell out of me."

Zack nodded. "I hope we never have to face what we faced in there." Zack looked down at his homework. "Dude I so don't wanna to deal with that."

"This is a superhero world." Will pointed out to them. "We could."

Warren wondered what they could have faced that would make his mind create the story he had thought he lived out of whole cloth. That bothered him to no end that he was the only one with false memories of what had happened..

Brigid spoke up lightly. "Maybe you were seeing someone else's life who is like you?" Her lightly pondered question which made the others smile and even gained a rueful grin from the brooding young man sitting in the wheelchair in the room. "But that is no moment, I still cannot believe how many heroes there were and are that have no real power." Drawing them back to what they were supposed to be studying.

"Yeah, Batman, Silver Sable, Black Cat." Magenta smiled looking at the list. "It is so across the board. Men, women, lots of different walks of life have chosen to become heroes without powers. It's amazing."

Ethan nodded. "They are what prove to me that 'sidekicks' can be so much more." they all looked at him startled. "These people all choose to be heroes for different reasons. They rose up to be heroes. They have no power, not like ours."

"Very true." Brigid smiled as she spoke.

"It's amazing the heroic power of the human spirit." Layla added.

Warren nodded he was indeed surprised at the amount of heroes that had no real super power. He was keeping his thoughts to himself for he was trying not to give away that he was seeing and the others apparently were not seeing what he was. He sighed as he made notes the salamander purred in his lap.

After they were done studying, Dylan took them all home. Dylan wheeled Warren inside the Stronghold's house he looked down at the young man before he spoke to him as Will talked with his parents. "Life likes to hand us strange occurrences sometimes young Warren Peace. Everything will eventually come to light. Knowledge will come." With those cryptic words Dylan left the young pyrokinetic to ponder what he meant.

Will looked at his parents as they had their conference while Dylan talked to Warren. "What do you mean he is escaped?"

"We don't know who helped him dear." Josie sighed. "I don't like it. I've already called Faith and informed her of what went down she said she take care of telling Warren."

Will sighed and looked at his parents and shook his head. "We need to get to bed for we have school tomorrow." They nodded and watched as Will carried a very brooding Warren up the stairs.

Warren wheeled himself over to where the guest room was. He was not too surprised that there was a bag on the bed with his stuff for inside packed by his mother before she left for her conference. He sighed, pulled off his outfit and pulled on his pajamas and rolled the chair over to his bed and heaved himself on it. He closed his eyes after wondering how he was going to itch his leg for it was maddening as he feel into sleep dreaming of fire and all it's mythical creatures that inhabited.

Meanwhile as the teenagers were studying at Brigid's home, outside of Barron Battle's cell, the man in question heard a faint sound. He stood up looking at his door. He watched in fascination as his door became a block of ice that suddenly shattered. Before him was an unearthly looking woman, he recognized her from her wanted poster; the Ice Demon was standing before him. He realized he was missing something else- sound, the prison was silent. He wondered if anyone had a chance to radio for help or if they make it out without some superhero stopping them.

"Well Barron Battle?" she spoke her voice like ice. "Ready to come out and take over the world?"

"Of course," Barron Battle smiled deadly as he walked out to stand next to her. He breathed in feeling better in the oxygen rich air that was outside his cell. "Yes, we must take over this world and wrestle it from the fools that currently run it."

She smiled as they walked out of his prison. He noted the destruction that she created to get him out. "Beautiful, but we need to get gone."

She nodded as she led him over to her car. They both got in and took off. They just finished getting into Maxville when Commander and Jetstream arrived too late to stop them both from leaving. They looked at each other the call had come too late for either hero to make a difference in Barron Battle's escape.

"Faith and Warren need to be warned." Josie said to her husband. He nodded as they flew off to tell Harmony that her ex-husband had escaped from prison.

The next morning Warren wheeled into Nurse Spex's office for she wanted to check on his leg. He knew it could not be healed yet for it itched something terrible. He sighed as he spoke up. "Morning Nurse Spex, I'm here like you requested." His voice was grumpy as he spoke to her.

Nurse Spex smiled at him and walked over to the sullen wheelchair bound pyrokinetic she used her power to see though his cast bound leg she blinked unable to fathom how she could be seeing what she was seeing. She was looking at a fully healed leg. She looked up at Warren. "This is unusual."

"Unusual?" He looked at her in question. He had never had anyone look at him the way Nurse Spex was looking at him. "What's unusual? My leg itches."

"Your leg, young man, is perfectly healed." Nurse Spex said softly. "It was broken yesterday. I know. I set it and placed the cast on you. But when I look today its perfectly healed. I now you don't have regeneration."

"I know I heal in half the time." Warren looked confused as Nurse Spex took the cast off him. He stood up and realized that she was indeed correct. "God, I'm healed. No way, this is way too weird."

"I concur, I will have to contact Dylan. Maybe that sly fox had one of his people heal you. He has surrounded himself with many minor talented as he says people. One of them could have healing." She looked at him. "Go to your first hour Mr. Peace. I think you will be fine."

Warren wandered out of the nurse's office on his own to feet to met up with his friends all of which were surprised. He swore that Brigid did not look as surprised as the others had. He could have been seeing something where nothing was. "Let's go to class." Warren growled not saying another word about the oddity of his healed leg to them. He had changed into a different pair of pants for he had been wearing a pair of break-away jogging pants that fit easily over the cast. Now he was in jeans and his usual pair of boots.

Brigid frowned at nothing none of the others could see. Warren frowned too but did not want to think about what his eyes told him he was seeing clinging to Brigid's hair at the moment. The sylph winked at Warren making him feel like he was going crazy. He turned to lead them to their classroom and drop them off returning once more to his own homeroom.

They all nodded and began their school day with their Homeroom class. Where they all continued their talk on Super Heroes that had no power but where still considered true heroes. While Warren in his own class pondered getting his eyes checked for he was sure he was seeing things.


	3. Field Trip

Author's Note and disclaimer: All characters that appear in here belong to their respected owners- Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Disney etc and not to me. I only own the original characters in this story.

Heroes Journey

By

Ragemoon

Chapter 3: Field Trip

At the Peace household, Warren stared at his alarm and glared at the time. He was once again up before the damn thing went off. It annoyed him to no end but he set it every night on the off chance he would sleep in and it would actually wake him. He had as of yet to sleep in; so the alarm clock could rudely awaken him from his slumber. He growled at it and got up. He sniffed the air he could smell freshly cooked muffins. That scent made him smile as he pulled on his kimono style robe before making his way downstairs. He looked into the family room the gas fireplace was once again lit, though he knew that today it had been lit by his mother. It was her day off from her cover job.

He saw that the salamanders where in the fireplace once more. He walked quickly out of the room before the kitten-like creatures noticed him and decided to follow him around the house. He sighed; he did not realize that his Mother had noted what he saw in the fireplace. She shook her head. Ever since what happened at Brigid's house Warren had been more wary of fire and what hid within it ready to pounce on him. Creatures of fire haunted his dreams, it was better then having certain teammates haunting his dreams as they were won't to do as well.

In her kitchen, Faith Peace hummed to herself. She just recently started to have open communication with her family once again. They seemed to sense that Warren was awakening to more then just being a living flame-thrower. She knew they had withdrawn because they had been forced to stand back from her. Her family did not abandon it's own under normal circumstances. Barron's actions had splintered the family and it had taken a while for all the factions of her family to re-heal from the damage that Barron had done to them all. He in his selfishness had affected two families, his own and his wife's.

She sighed glad to be speaking with her family. She missed them. She knew that they were only waiting until the super hero community lifted its ban on her. Her parents had been secretly helping their daughter. Not one of her super friends knew about her families' magical ways. Her parents made sure that she and Warren always had food. She was always grateful for that. For her cover job only covered the rent and gas to get to and from. Food was something that she had been unable to provide for herself and her son. So her parents provided the food that she and Warren had eaten for seventeen years of his life, not that he knew that she kept it a secret even from him. How could you explain to your son that your family was helping you without giving away the nature of their help? Now she could provide what they needed. Her parents still helped out but in ways that where different then how they had helped before. Plus trying to explain magic in such a technology driven world seemed like madness or at least the courting of it. For no one believed it existed anymore, not even in the super hero community; which is why they considered her odd for she sprouted from a mundane or so they thought family.

Her son appeared in the doorway to the kitchen as she pulled out the fresh baked muffins. She looked at him; he looked so much like his Grandfathers that it amused her to no end. Her son was handsome even if she knew she was biased about that fact. "Breakfast Honey?" Faith asked her son. She placed the muffins on the counter top as she carefully removed them from the pan and set them on a plate. "I know these are what drew you downstairs." She smiled warmly at her only child. She wondered how long he had been seeing salamanders in the fireplace. She knew that magic ran on her side of the family. Her son apparently was gaining gifts from both sides, even if he did not realize it as of yet. Or he was in denial of those gifts. She has to find a way to get him to confess without completely baring her own gifts down on her son. She wanted him to come to her, not her forcing what he was thinking from him, she could do that but she knew that it not be a good idea. She would have to wait until he used up all his options before he would come to her and ask her the questions he needed answering.

Warren flashed his mother and easy grin. One she wished he wear more often. "Of course, the muffins, I love your fresh baked muffins." He snagged one from the still hot pan with a grin as he buttered it then ate it quickly down. "We are going to the Hero Museum today Mom."

"I remember Honey." Faith smiled at her son. She had a particular unreadable expression on her face as she looked at him Warren could not tell if she was happy or something was on her mind. He ate three more muffins before going back up to his rooms and showering then getting ready for school. He reappeared from his shower- all ready for school as Faith handed him his backpack. "Already placed your lunch in your backpack. I included a little bit of spending money too." She smiled at him. "I've never been able to do that before but now that I can." She grinned at her son.

"Thanks Mom." Warren kissed her on the cheek. Warren then took off to go to Sky High. He could not wait to go to the museum; he knew that even if it was a waste of time, he'd not have to deal with people being stupid toward him half that day at school. They would get back at their lunch time and have to deal with the second half of their day. He wondered if the others had noticed that their school was set up more like a collage then a regular high school. Certain days they had certain classes just like collage. It actually had him excited about his classes for once not that he admits that aloud to anyone.

He boarded the bus, took his usual seat in the back and waited for the other students to get on as well. He wanted to be at Sky High the moment he stepped on the bus this waiting for the others was not making him happy. He scowled at the other students and they once again sat as far away from Warren as they could. He watched the clouds as the bus flew to the school; he was jostled in his seat belt from the terrible landing of their bus driver. He got off the bus before any of the other students moved to go to his favorite spot and wait for the others to arrive. He sat down and broke open a book to read as he waited for them to appear.

A few moments later, Will and Warren's other friends joined him to wait for their assigned chaperon and for their assigned bus. Both of which were supposed to be there at any moment. They watched the other students mill about like they lost their minds. Everyone seemed so excited about going to the museum. Warren shook his head at the antics he saw happening all around them.

"I can't wait to see who the featured hero is this month." Ethan spoke suddenly. He was bouncing in place much to Warren's amusement. "It's going to be so much fun." He looked forward to the learning experience. He did not care how the others felt about it but he was excited and thrilled to be going, he loved learning and this was going to be profound at least to him.

Warren looked over his friends noting their expressions. His eyes fell on Brigid for a moment and he frowned there was a small creature attached to her hair and she looked annoyed though she was trying not to look annoyed by whatever he was seeing, although he rather pretend it was a figment of his mind gone off kilter. He shook his head trying to clear his vision of the creature that he thought he was seeing. It was then he looked up toward the school to see a very tall form of Will's mother, Josie Stronghold walking toward them in a deep green pea coat. Ron Wilson was also with her. Now he knew who their chaperon was. "God, Stronghold no one wants to cut the apron strings do they?" He grumbled.

Will looked up and sighed as he realized what Warren was grumbling about. His eyes fell on his mother and he wondered at that moment if he was cursed. "Mom is our chaperon. It's bad enough she is teaching our class but she is our chaperon for this trip too." He had a long suffering look on his face, he also looked totally embarrassed by the fact that he felt like his parents had this need to keep an eye on him everywhere he went. It was staring to annoy him.

"I think I understand why." Layla muttered her eyes flickered to Warren, he missed her look but Brigid had not and she frowned at Layla. "I don't think it's favoritism Will."

"Buck it up boy scout." Warren pointed out to him. "It couldn't possibly get worse, Stronghold." So he hoped though he thought he might have cursed them by saying just as he said. Words like that had a tendency to bite people when they lest expected them too.

Brigid snorted, but made no comment. She was still getting used to the rest of the group and the dynamics within it, as well as coming to realize that they had found their way past her defenses and into her heart. She didn't want them to know this fact, at least until she worked out how they had managed such a feat. Absently, she wondered if Warren felt the same way; as though Will and the others had snuck up on him.

Layla slid her arms round her boyfriend, who leaned against her as she spoke hoping her words would make him feel better. She knew he missed her earlier words of just a moment before. "She undoubtedly didn't ask for this assignment Will. But considering..." Her voice trailed off and the group all sighed in unison, considering the two in their group had special histories as well and the fact that Josie would not abuse her power over them was a bonus.

Magenta laughed and shook her head. "It's not that bad Will. At least your Mom doesn't lecture us the entire time we're in her presence." She poked at him trying to make him smile with the reference to his Dad. The Commander liked to turn everything into a sermon when he was in charge of Will's little group of fledgling super heroes.

Zack nodded in agreement. "Yeah your Dad likes to hear himself speak, man." They all looked at each other remembering some of the Commander's speeches to them. Brigid and Warren had both fallen asleep during one and Will's father had almost lost it but Josie had stepped in and made him stop. The entire group had been surprised to see Warren and Brigid leaning on each other asleep on the love seat they had been sharing. When they woken neither had spoken a word about leaning on each other. Though Magenta had taken a photograph without either of them knowing, she wanted to be able to tease them about being so cute together later on, when she could find the right time to do it. Or even the right way, figuring that out would take a while the pair were prickly so easy to set off and she did not want to get burned or fried by either.

"I know." Will sighed looking at his friends. "I grew up with him, remember?" He sighed smiling at Layla as she hugged him. Neither teenager was going to kiss in fount of the adults, especially Will's Mother.

"Let's get loaded on the bus." Josie smiled and nodded to Ron as joined they joined the teenagers who where sitting on the stone stairs. The group all filed off to Ron's bus, she watched as they started of come alive before her eyes. She smiled as they all took seats on the bus. She sat back and watched Ron fly the school bus to their destination. She noted that he touched down and drove them quickly, as he legally could, to the museum. 

Upon arriving at their destination a cool wind blew though the green pea coat Josie Stronghold was wearing to keep the winter chill off of her. She could not believe that school had been going for a month already, it did not seem like it had truly been that long. She was enjoying teaching the one class she taught in Sky High, even if it was because Mrs. Frost could not handle teaching Warren Peace which she did not understand, for Warren was not like his father at all, she wished people would just realize that and treat Warren right. She looked at the students that were under her charge, absently; she knew that Will was unimpressed with getting his mother has their chaperon for their trip to the Superhero Museum. She was not sure what his friends thought of it either; none were giving away their feelings on the subject at least in her hearing they were not. She had not wanted the assignment and had argued with Veronica Powers over it. Josie did not want anyone to think that her son was getting special treatment just because she was Jetstream. Veronica had over ruled all her objections and now she was watching them and hoped they did not mind her presence too much. For she herself minded her own presence in their lives she was acutely aware of the consequences and the reasons to why she was there.

She knew that she enjoyed watching their interplay when they were not paying attention to her. Steve thought she was daft in her support of the new team structure that Principle Powers was installing at Sky High; she thought it was a wonderful move. She was happy that the hero-sidekick demographic at the school was almost non-existent, she never liked the separation for she felt that it made light of those with supposedly smaller powers. She knew that anyone could be a hero. There were heroes out there that did not have powers; they used some of the most amazing gadgets to help them save their cities; to save their citizens. So power in all reality, at least to her, did not matter. It was the heart and soul that made a true hero, she hoped that someday Steve would realize that but she doubted her husband would see what she was seeing. He was a bit thick at the worst of times and totally blind at the best of times.

Right then, while she was pondering many thoughts, Ron Wilson had gotten them there a bit sooner then other buses. Josie had to laugh silently at Ron's antics, now that he was a hero himself he still took time to fly the bus and help out at the school. She was amazed by what toxic waste could do to a person and Nurse Spex said that she doubted that Ron would come to the end that most people who gained their powers in the toxic waste fashion did. They usually died within years of first exposure. Nurse Spex had noted that Ron's Super genes had flared up with the interaction of the toxic waste infusion and now were actually functioning. His body was accepting the sudden change which made Nurse Spex want to study Ron. She kept an eye on the Superhero-bus driver. He reported to her everyday and told her how he was feeling. He knew she was keeping track of him and what he was going though. Though he often times he wondered why.

She looked at her son speaking in a light firm tone, "Let's go inside." She paused looking at them. She smiled at her son's groan as the group trooped into the museum. Josie always loved the architecture of the building; thirteen pillars graced the fount of the great white building done in an old Grecian building style, she wondered which super genius designed the building to act the way it did. As the teenagers all looked about the building awestruck, a young woman watched them. She walked toward the small group her heels making small clicking sounds that the group missed on the tiled floor beneath her feet.

The young woman then spoke to the group before her. "Welcome to the Super Hero Museum." They all turned toward the voice that spoke to them. It was a pretty young woman; she flashed them a smile and straightened up her glasses. She wore the usual tour guide uniform of the museum, as she spoke she closed the distance between them. "I am Lynn, your tour guide. You are the Stronghold group right?" She looked at Josie waiting for her to answer her question. She had the look of someone that hoped they were not making a mistake.

"Yes, we are." Josie reassured her. "Do the others often play tricks on you Lynn?" She could tell by Lynn's nervous smile that they did, causing her to wonder why.

The girl blushed before she answered. "Yes they do, they seem to enjoy embarrassing me. I suppose it's because I'm too smart for my own good." She flashed them a small timid smile. "I'm studying super hero history in college; this is my internship." She informed them, noticing the unasked question in their eyes.

"But you look like our age." Will spoke up in shock his face showing his complete surprise at what she had said. "You couldn't be older then seventeen." He seemed confused as Layla squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"I'm seventeen." She smiled at him. "I got my diploma at sixteen technically. I'm still in high school I just am taking collage credits. Ok let's get started." She motioned for them to follow her as they fell in behind her, Ethan next to her and Josie with Will and Layla, Magenta and Zack behind Will and the last two were Warren and Brigid who where both lagging behind the others but not too much. The museum was pulling them in different directions even as they all stayed with their guide. Lynn began her practiced speech. "This room is dedicated to the Super Heroes who have no powers but used technology to serve and protect their chosen citizens and cities. Some of these men and women are considered heroes while others anti-heroes."

This surprised Will, Layla, Magenta, Zack and Brigid that heroes fought with no powers; it was a novel concept one that bore thinking about. People, normal people, with no powers taking up the fight against evil and injustice in their own cities, Warren and Ethan were not as surprised. Warren being older had already learned this in a class at Sky High. Ethan knew from his endless quest for knowledge. The hall that Lynn had led them in was huge and there were many displays for each of the heroes and their sidekicks. It seemed that even the heroes with no powers sometimes had sidekicks. They taken out their notebooks and were taking notes on each hero, their sidekick if they had one, their main villains and their weaponry.

Lynn's voice droned on to Brigid who was having trouble focusing on the words for a sylph was playing with her braid again. The little creature of air had attached herself to Brigid that morning and would not leave. She waved at the creature and Warren saw the sylph once again as Brigid said with a soft vexed tone of voice. "Stop it." She hoped that none of her friends caught her talking to herself again. But she knew that one of them would catch her talking to herself or so they thought once more. Her new friends could not see the creatures of magic, she suspected that Warren could but she did not know how to talk to him about them without sounding daft. What surprised her was when she looked up to see who it was this time; that she caught Warren's eyes and realized that he had heard her and he was not really looking at her he was looking at the being that Brigid was trying to get to stop playing with her hair while she was trying to learn. Not that it took much to sidetrack her, she was easily distracted.

Warren was now studying the little creature that Brigid was annoyed with. He could not believe his eyes, first the salamanders and now this. He thought that they had gone away once he reached the age that you just did not believe in such flights of fancy anymore. Warren had begun to realize that he had been pretending that he was not seeing them; he wondered what triggered him taking his own blindfold off. He started to dream about fire creatures again; and now this creature with wings and a tiny female body was in fount of his nose. He really did not want to admit that it was real, though he knew that it must be real for he was seeing it and he suspected that Brigid could as well. He wondered how long she been seeing them; if it was a short time or all her life like he himself had been seeing them. He just was not ready yet to admit that they were not pretend friends that kept him company because no one wanted to be around a kid whose father was a murder.

The sylph who was placing tiny braids in Brigid's hair was watching the two young people interact. She was always amused by the dance that humans did around each other. She could see a possibility between the two but knew she have no way to voice her thoughts even if she wanted to interfere. She did not want to; for it was not her way. She turned one of Brigid's new tiny braids purple, then another one red. Each of the thirteen braids she braided where different colours. She looked up and noted that her sisters had come to join her. They loved to follow the young elemental. They really loved to follow her now that another elemental had surfaced as well, though this one tasted like fire to her. She had yet to see him use his power, though she knew that he had all the earmarks of a fire mage. So she watched them interact and prepared to tell the Dragon about their interactions. He was curious about the pair. She did not understand why, but one never knew with dragons their memories where much longer then her people's memory.

"What the hell is that?" He asked her in a soft strangled whisper so that the others, who were not paying attention to the two anyway, would notice. "I keep seeing things lately and it's starting to drive me up a wall." He looked at her his eyes almost begging her to tell him he was going mad. Even though he knew he was not, for he had been seeing them all his life but as a child he had thought they were pretend figments of his over active mind, not real. He was beginning to realize now that they are very real. He just did not like how it made him feel, helpless. Warren did not like feeling helpless. "Things that should not exist, save in books, within the mind or hell movies and television." Warren looked at Brigid glad that she was there with him to help him though his own disbelief; for he was glad that she was seeing them that made him feel a bit saner in this world that he lived in. She proved that he was not really going crazy. He proved that he was alright still somewhat sane, well maybe.

The sylph giggled at them as she flew up higher to join her sisters in cavorting in the extra high ceilings of the museum. He blinked taking in the tiny multi-colored braids that were now in Brigid's hair that had not been there a moment before. He watched her fiddle with them; he knew she was thinking of a way to answer his questions. Warren watched as emotions she just never learned to hide flew across her face for him to read then she spoke and he felt an odd kind of acceptance come over him as her words spilled over him.

"They are creatures of magic Warren. You can see them because magic runs in your veins. They have always been with you," she whispered to him tilting her head toward him, looking up at him for he was about a head taller then she was. "You just never wanted to admit to them before." She frowned at the small braid in her fingers it was scarlet. "Dammit how do I explain this if they notice? My hair was all one colour this morning when we started this trip." She winced and Warren had to agree with her. Layla would not miss the many coloured braids and neither would Magenta.

Warren gazed at Brigid, who found it difficult to discern what he was thinking. She knew that the others could sometimes work it out, but even for them it wasn't often that made her feel better, for she was not the only person to have difficulty reading Warren. She watched him ponder what she said; she even saw the flash of acceptance in his eyes that warmed her. For he could have decided they were both as mad as March hares and that would not have been good for either of them.

"Magical creatures." Warren knew that she was right; he knew that the creatures were real. Warren snagged one of her braids and realized that this one was crimson. It seemed that the little sylph had left many shades of red though her hair as well as a few different purple as well as some silver looking braids, but mostly red he wondered what the little creature of air was trying to say with that. He just had not wanted to admit to it to what the little thing might have been saying with the colours they had put in Brigid's hair. Warren sighed as he rolled the braid between his fingers thinking about what she had said. He just never wanted to admit to it for there were times he thought he'd gone mad. The salamanders had always hung around him when he had candles lit or in his mother's fire place. He just did not want to think they were real. He just wanted to pretend he was creating things in the fire with his imagination.

He remembered the stories that his mother told him about some of her family members. Now he wondered if they were really stories or a truth. He'd have to ask her later stories of those who did not have super powers who used what people would call magic to do what they did to save the world. He knew that this gift came from his Mother's family much like the way his fire powers manifested themselves though his emotions and not like a normal pyrokinetic. Or at least his were stronger driven by emotion unlike a normal pyrokinetic.

His silence, after he spoken so briefly, was starting to unnerve Brigid who was not sure of what to say next until the words started to tumble forth from her lips to hide the way he was making her feel. "They have been waiting for you, you know." Brigid gazed up at him. She could not pull away from him, he was holding on to one of the braids he was examining a little too tightly for her to pull away to a safe distance from her friend. She inhaled his scent, Warren always smelled like cinnamon and musk, she tucked the thought away and told herself to stop thinking about his scent, he was her friend, no more then that. She reminded herself that was all she really wanted was a friend and nothing more as well. "Fires not known for its ability to wait." She gave him one of her rare, full beam smiles. Her voice also lacked its usual acid edge when she spoke. He had a feeling this was the Brigid that Layla wanted to get to know. The one he got to see first, the Brigid without the scars. Much like they made him feel, like he had no scars either. "They've been with you Warren every step of your life."

"I realize that now. I just wasn't ready to admit it. Not ready to admit that magic could be real. That magic is real and I was not making them all up." He gifted her with one of his own true rare grins as they caught up to the others. His smile lit up his entire face and even danced in his eyes making her wish he do that more often. "We'll need to talk about this more later." He caught her eye. "In private, I don't want Stronghold or the others to know. I don't think they would be ready to believe in magic anyway. Hell I'm not ready but I have to." She nodded as they rejoined the others who were looking at a display for Batman. He had donated one of his old costumes and some of his equipment including one of his cars he used to keep Gotham City safe from super villains.

Warren and Brigid started to take notes knowing that there would be an essay they all have to write for homework that night. Neither one was looking forward to it. The only people that were looking forward to the assignment were Ethan and Layla. The rest would do it only because they had too, not because it excited them to no end. He knew they have to backtrack to make sure they got all the information they missed because of their discussion.

While Brigid and Warren were talking about him seeing elemental creatures, Layla and the others found themselves engrossed in the words of their guide. Layla could not believe how many super heroes and their sidekicks that there where that actually had no powers to speak of. They looked at displays for the Punisher, Elektra, Robin, Night Hawk, Bat Girl and many others who all fought as heroes with no power in their genes. It was fascinating to the young heroine.

Ethan was trading facts with their guide, Lynn. "There have been five Robins." Ethan said softly making their tour guide smile. "They all wore the same suit but each one was different."

"Yes they were." Lynn smiled as she watched them all writing down notes about each of the super heroes in the room with them. The displays were truly amazing that was the biggest reason she enjoyed this job so much and helping normal people understand heroes was a big plus as well.

It was amusing to Layla for she was not sure if her geeky friend knew how to flirt with the opposite sex and flirt Ethan was what he was doing in his own geeky way, Lynn flirted back with him neither realizing that they were doing it and most of his friends did not notice it. Layla holding on to Will's hand while they all went from display to display reading and looking at each thing that the heroes donated; it was wonderful, old costumes, weapons, cars, and pictures. "Wow, and they all fight every day without powers against villains." Layla spoke softly to Will and the others.

Magenta giggled gaining Layla's attention. Her purple haired friend smirked and inclined her head back toward Brigid and Warren the two were talking softly to each other and it was amusing to both girls. They were not as surprised as Will and Zack that the two emotional driven powered ones were creating such a tight friendship. Their closeness sometimes drove the others crazy for they seemed to speak without talking and they always gave the other space when they needed it. The bond they were forging was a good one, Layla hoped that their tight friendship would last lifetimes. She also wished for something else for the two but she kept that to herself. She also seen the two fight; which had not been pretty either, they both gotten detention for it along with the two students that had picked the fight with them.

Layla blinked looking at Brigid's hair. As the other girl moved her head as she was talking to Warren Layla noticed the tiny multi-coloured braids; they were different shades of red and a few different shades of purple as well as some silver looking ones. She knew that the other's hair had not had those tiny braids in it this morning before they come to the museum she wondered how they gotten there. She would have to ask the other girl about it later, after the museum.

Meanwhile they went into another huge room and Warren stopped short blinking rapidly as he took in the huge life-like statue of his mother standing before him in her guise as Harmony. He was speechless; Brigid made sure he moved forward so he could hear what Lynn was going to say next. She had grabbed his hand and pulled him forward and once he was caught up with the others she let go, unlike Layla she was not going to chance getting burned by him when he noticed she grabbed a hold of his hand. Or testing a theory she had on what her Grandfather had told her things she did not want to nor was ready to admit about herself yet.

"What is it?" Brigid hissed at him trying to draw him out of his shocked state. She poked at him a bit forgetting that she did not want to anger him, just get him back before anyone else noticed his reaction and teased him about it. That would not go over well at all and Brigid did not want Warren to erupt at anyone who caught him in this off state.

Warren blinked drawing back to himself. He poked her back because she was poking him, making her laugh softly. "It's my Mother." He muttered. "They're featuring my Mother. She knew it too. That smile of her's this morning." He growled not amused to be the blunt of a personal joke of his Mother's, not that she did it often but every once in a while she withhold information from him because she thought it was funny.

"You should be proud then." Brigid winked at him, speaking softly not to draw attention to them as she spoke. "It's an honour to be the featured hero." She hoped that her words would not cause any reaction out of him. She did not want the others to notice they were talking so softly to each other or that they were standing so unusually close until she got a chance to give him and herself enough room to feel really comfortable. Well comfortable that their friends will not ask them questions that neither had the answers to.

"I know," Warren muttered as they both stopped talking to pay attention to what Lynn was saying. None of the others had noticed the hurried exchange between the two. Which suited them both just fine, they rather not be discovered talking too intently by their friends. They moved away from each other and still stood near without looking like they were near.

"This is the only room where the exhibit changes, at this moment its Harmony who's featured." Lynn flashed them a smile. She was glad she had all of their attention; she noticed earlier that two of her charges had not kept up to her and the rest of their group. So far they all stuck together once the other two caught up. "She's one of my favorite heroes." She noted the look they all gave her with her confession. "I know she's not flashy. What she does is so important. She helps people forge peace for their parts of the world. It's amazing." She waved her hand at the pictures that dominated the room. Excitement tinged her voice making her speak faster then she intended. She forced herself to slow down so they understand what she was saying. "I was told that featuring Harmony was a hard choice for the museum for she doesn't fight super villains. She fights the villainy that exists in the human heart and that's a lot harder to understand."

She stood in fount of one of Warren's Mother's costumes. It was a beautiful deer skin dress done in the Native American style with Celtic knotwork edging. The knotwork was so subtle that you had to really look at it to see it. A pair of her matching white boots where also present. As well as a pair of her white gloves that enclosed the mannequin's hands. On the mannequin that was sporting his Mother's costume including her silver mask he also noticed that she allowed them to show off one of her fine silver jewelry pieces. The mannequin was wearing one of the silver knotwork circlet and one of her silver necklaces with many different semi-precious gem stones woven in the silver.

"They tell me that her costumes are made out of a white deer skin." Lynn spoke in her tour guide voice. Layla looked at Warren her eyes widened over that bit of news. "It's said that the deer that this skin came from, came to her to be part of her work. It's also said that out of one deer came all three of her costumes, which to me sounds crazy. Even when the Native American's used deer skin for clothing it took more then one deer to make a garment. Yet that's the legend. That all three of her costumes are made of only the skin of one deer." She paused gathering her thoughts once again before plunging on. "She also wears one of three silver necklaces when she is working. The one on display is a copy of her necklace. The museum didn't want to actually part her from her jewelry." They all looked at each other. "She also disappeared for a while from the peace keeping bit she was doing. She's back now and the world's doing much better for her handiwork." She looked at all the pictures and then at the TV screen. "Up on the screen is a copy of her most recent peacekeeping conference. It's on continues loop."

Brigid looked at the deer skin she could tell it was real deer skin and not a synthetic skin. She smiled lightly realizing something else about the skin and looked at Layla. "It was a real deer but it's not a real deer."

Layla looked at her friend oddly. "Come again?" She spoke softly to her friend. "What do you mean?" As she and Brigid as well as a stunned Warren all looked at one of Faith's pictures. The others were wandering around while Josie made a phone call.

"The deer wasn't..." Brigid sighed. "I don't know how to explain it. The deer wasn't of this world. It was different much like Harmony is. It gave up its life so she could do her work wearing its skin."

Layla blinked Brigid's words sinking in. "So it gave its skin to Harmony to help her in her quest. That's amazing and something I don't want my Mother finding out." Layla and the others all winced at her words for they knew her words were true.

"The deer was otherworldly. It's not an earth deer. It came from the Other World." Brigid sighed she looked at the skin and could see the special magic that was woven in the skin of the dress. She knew Warren was seeing it as well. For they caught each other's eyes and Warren's went back to staring at the dress in fascination.

"Other World?" Ethan looked at Brigid. "What's the Other World?"

"It's a place that exists elsewhere, it's said that the old gods and creatures that can no longer be on the earth all stay there." Brigid looked at the conference tape and smiled watching Warren's mother work her own brand of magic on the people that she was working with. "My Grandfather has books on the subject in our family library."

"I'm going to want to look that up." Ethan said. "Other World deer, Layla's mom would have a fit because it took the form of a deer."

All winced at the fall out that happen if that came to light. Layla's Mother would not take the news quite as well as her daughter and Warren knew his Mother had so few friends that to loose one would hurt her badly. Even if those friends had pretended not to know who she was while she was being shunned by the superhero community. Although Warren was finding out that Brigid's Grandfather had been helping them out as much as he could, the devious old man owned quite a few of the shoppes his Mother had worked in. That amused Warren to no end. There had been help coming from somewhere else and Warren still had not figured out where that help had come from.

"You know," Warren said suddenly. "Mom might have already talked to your mother about it." He shrugged as the group looked at him a bit flabbergasted. "She'd not want a fight from someone she cares about and she likes your Mothers as her friends ya know."

The group checked out more of the museum, Josie allowed them to separate into different groups when she noticed they wanted to do different things. Josie shook her head watching Warren and Brigid try out the V. R. sim and the fact that they choose each others powers made Josie laugh to see them 'fight' each other with the others' natural power. The two came out laughing after the sim was done. Something that Josie was glad to have gotten a chance to see. The two before her were more of how they should always be, not the way they had to act because the world refused to believe that they were not their parents.

Will, Layla and the others all went to the hands on part of the museum, where they created a few different projects. They created a necklace in the style of Warren's mother, a bracelet like Wonder Woman wore and a medicine bag like Shaman wore. There were other activities that they thought they were too old for.

They joined Warren, Brigid and Josie in the main hall. Brigid and Warren were laughing at each other for some reason and the others looked at each other. They did not know how to react to the two laughing. Josie shook her head and filled in her charges. "They did the power V. R. sim and used each other's power on the other. They think they're funny."

"I enjoyed pretending I could use fire." Brigid said with a rare smile. "It was fun and different. What really got me was the fact it really felt like I was actually using fire as my power."

"I enjoyed using weather control." Warren smirked. "Yeah I noticed that too. I'm sure it was the suits we wore into it though." They both wore suits that gave them the feel of the power they had chosen inside the V. R. sim. Josie had watched the proceedings and bought a copy of the fight on disc for the two teens.

"Mom why are you smiling?" Will asked looking at his Mother. He noticed she was holding a disc in her hand. He wondered what was on the disc.

"This." She waved the disc at her son. "I'm making DVD copies of it, well one more. It's the V. R. sim between Warren and Brigid. Where they started off against each other then had to work with each other to get out of the sim. It was quite neat to watch." She paused knowing she was teasing the two. They both managed to look embarrassed as the others looked ready to tease them over it as she went on. "Let's get you all back to the school. It's getting close to lunch time." As she spoke they stepped outside the museum to go back to their bus when Josie realized that standing twenty feet from them where two villains; Barron Battle and the Ice Demon. They both smirked at Josie and her charges. Josie felt her heart rapidly beat; she did not like the looks the pair before her where sporting. She also did not like the way they were eying two of her charges.

"We have come for our children." Barron Battle spoke in a quiet soothing voice. "School is out for them both." His voice had an edge to it that Josie and her charges did not like at all.

"I don't think so Barron." Josie said stepping closer to the two. "The children are going back to school today." She noted that Ron had stepped up next to her.

"Oh so you think." The Ice Demon purred she carefully placed her iron spear on the ground and gazed at her daughter. "You don't look so happy to see me daughter. I wonder how many lies you have been fed about me?"

"It was all the truth and I will never accept you as my Mother." Brigid said angrily. Her accent thick in her voice something her friends had never heard; for her accent was very soft almost non-existent. In her fury it was thick. "I'll never go with you. I'd rather die." Above them the sky turned black Josie frowned knowing that Brigid in her rage was changing the weather once again. She watched as Warren stepped up next to her. He placed a hand on the girl's trembling shoulder. The sky remained black, and the threat was still there of a terrible storm, it just was contained.

"We'll not go with you, ever." Warren spoke with firm authority. "We are on the path of heroes; not on your path." He looked at them both. "We're not like either of you."

Both of the young people looked furious at the two whom where trying to take them from where they wanted to be. Josie and Ron both went from civilian wear to their hero attire in a blink of an eye. Jetstream and Capitan Tox stood there between the teen-agers and the two adult villains.

"I'm going to take you back to where you belong Barron." Jetstream spoke firmly looking at the two villains who she knew were going to fight and not give themselves up. "You are also going to go to prison as well Ice Demon." She wanted to take them down quickly for the teenagers really could not help her; none of them had their licenses yet. And they could not show their powers in public. People have this tendency to react in a negative way to super-powers especially ones that were genetic. They seemed only to accept them if the person wielding it was in uniform and licensed; so the kids just could not power up in public or things could get ugly. "Today your freedom ends." She gazed over her shoulder at her charges. "Go back inside." They nodded and went back inside neither Warren or Brigid looked back. As Warren steered Brigid into the museum by her elbow the others trailing along with them.

Barron frowned this was not going the way he had wanted it to go. "I'm not going back Jetstream. It's not going to happen." He called a huge fire ball to his hands.

Jetstream watched as the ball of fire grew bigger and bigger until it was the size of a mailbox. She then realized that the Ice Demon was doing the same. The two villains held their attacks then flung them, the two attacks hit each other then showered the two heroes with chucks of ice and fire. They blinked looking to where the two had been standing and frowned, the two where no longer there. As they walked thought the door they found that their charges where all looking at the hands-on exhibits once again. They stepped back and re-emerged in their civilian wear once again and waiting for the kids to notice their presence.

Layla was the first to look up and smile, Josie winked at his son's girlfriend and Layla watched as both Brigid and Warren placed their finishing touches on the necklaces that they were making. "I think we're ready as long as the threats gone." Layla spoke as she stood up from the table they were all gathered around.

"It's gone for now." Josie sighed as they all made their way back to the bus that drove then flew them back to Sky High. They knew by the way she said it that Barron Battle and the Ice Demon had escaped that did not make any of them any happier then it did Josie or Ron. The atmosphere on the bus was discontented.

After the bus touched down onto Sky High proper the teenagers all left for lunch. Josie sighed nodding to Ron; she now needed to talk to Principal Powers. She walked down the halls that recalled so many memories of when she went there she sighed. Nodding to the other adults she let herself in to Veronica Powers office. "Veronica we need to talk."

"What is it Josie?" Veronica looked at the other woman and did not like the look in her fellow teacher's eyes. Something was going on and she knew she was not going to like it at all.

Josie sat down. "Just before coming back from the museum we ran into Barron Battle and the Ice Demon." Veronica sat back and looked warily at Josie. "They got away but they didn't get what they came for."

"They wanted to take..." Veronica's voice trailed off.

"Their children, Warren and Brigid both refused." Josie sighed. "Brigid also had to fix the little bit she did with the weather for they both angered her." She shook her head remembering Brigid asleep on Warren's shoulder. He glared at everyone as if daring them to even say a word and none of them had something which Josie was grateful for. "I've called Dylan, he said he be here soon. You two better work something out. Faith said she love to come to the powwow but she is out of the country again." Josie shook her head. "She just got the call this morning. I swear the world has the worst timing." She stood up. "I need to get home. Steve and I have an open house we need to do today. Take care."

"Take care Josie and good luck on the house." Veronica said as she watched Josie disappear only to be replaced by Dylan. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon to you as well." Dylan said as he took the seat that Josie had just occupied a moment before.

After lunch, Morgan Frost was walking down the hall when she spotted Brigid for the first time. She also noted that she was with Will Stronghold and his other friends. She frowned as she realized who the young woman shared features with for she did not completely look like her sister Nora Frost, the one family member to ever go villain; the one they never talked about. No one in the hero world actually realized that the Ice Demon was related to the Frost's and they liked it that way. They did not have to bare the shame that the Peace, Battle, and McShea families had to bare. Although they did but in silence for they had disowned the woman who had become the Ice Demon. Her name had been struck from the family tree. They did not talk about her for as far as the Frost's were concerned; the woman who was called the Ice Demon was dead to her family. Morgan was in shock and turned her heel to go talk to Veronica Powers about what she just realized. She walked into the office, nodded at the aide and knocked on Veronica Power's door.

"Come in." Veronica's voice floated to Morgan's ears. The blonde woman opened the door and saw Dylan McShea was seated in one of the seats near Veronica Power's. "What is it Morgan?"

"Why wasn't I told my niece was coming to Sky High?" Morgan asked. Veronica looked startled. She had not realized that Morgan had any other family other then her cousin Emma.

"I was unaware you had family other then Melissa here at Sky High." Veronica stated looking at the other woman. She waited for an answer as Morgan turned on Dylan.

"You knew. Why didn't you tell me?" She demanded of the gentleman before turning to Veronica. "I have a right to know. And she's with Will Stronghold's group."

Veronica's eyes widened as she realized who Morgan was referring to, Brigid. As she gazed at her fellow educator she realized she could see the resemblance between the two. She had not noticed it before although Brigid much like her grandfather was dark of hair unlike the Frost's who where all blonde.

"You would not admit to having your sister Nora go villain." Dylan looked coldly at Morgan before going on. Veronica watched the interplay between the two. "What would make me think you would welcome her daughter into your lives?" He paused. "Or is it the fact that you did not want to end up shunned like those of us who had to deal with having family publicly villain. You are lucky she has not out you." Dylan frowned. Deeply and pondered as to why Nora had not outted them. "And what makes you think for one moment woman that I'd let you shun my Granddaughter." Morgan sputtered at Dylan's tirade she really had no defense for it for he was right but before he could go on the three heard a huge thunderclap. Dylan stood up suddenly before saying. "Brigid."

They all take off out of Veronica's office and hurry quickly out to see the fight between Melissa and Brigid break out. Veronica was impressed by the way the Brigid handled her power. It was not the best but she was handling it well and giving Melissa as good as she took from Melissa. She then said in her commanding voice. "Melissa, Brigid stop." And prayed that they both would hear her she would hate to have Dylan interfere but if she had to ask him to interfere she would.

Meanwhile, Brigid was fishing something out of her locker when she realized the metal felt cold. She looked at the door of her locker and noticed it was a block of ice. She then looked around the ice door to see Melissa standing there. "What the hell's your issue?" Brigid growled her eyes narrowing looking at the person who had just frozen her locker door.

"You." Melissa stated boldly. "And the fact you sit with my ex-boyfriend." She hurled a ball of ice at the other girl. Brigid dodged as Will and the others all came around the bend to watch in shocked fascination as Melissa attacked Brigid. The other girl agility dodged and then stood there in fount of her comrades not actually realizing that they were behind her. Melissa went on. "I will not have you flirting with him."

"What!" Brigid looked at her. "Please. Whatever. You wish." She then opened a hand and a ball of lightening formed there and she hurled it over hand at Melissa. Melissa at the last secound moved out of the way of the deadly projectile. She was impressed at the sort of power the other held but she did not let that show in her face. She kept her expression void of any kind of emotion. She was also impressed by the damage to the wall that took the hit of the balled lighting and was glad she had not taken the hit herself. She threw another ball of ice at Brigid deciding not to use her cold beam on the other girl. The ice balls made it more interesting to the cryokentic.

Brigid hurled another ball of lightening as a ball of ice hurled over her shoulder. This time the lightening hit Melissa and hurled the other girl back a few feet down the hall. Melissa got up again wincing in pain before gathering herself once more and hurled another ball of ice then tried and ice beam but the other young woman was quick. She only barely hit her opponent's braids and that annoyed her.

Warren was shocked. Why should Melissa care who flirted with him or not? He did not think for one moment that Brigid was flirting with him. Then again what did he know? What did his ex-girlfriend see? Warren really did not care what she thought as he pondered the questions that filtered though his head but he knew he was irked at Melissa for acting like a spoiled brat. He and the others watched as Brigid got another good hit on Melissa he knew that the other girl could not handle too much more damage he hoped that they would just stop. He loathed stepping between them, for he knew Melissa would just turn her power against him, not that it would work on him but he just did not want to have to deal with that.

"Melissa, Brigid stop." The principal's voice carried though to where the two where standing. They stood there glaring at each other as they panted. Brigid knew she was on her last dregs of energy; she was still tired from loosing her temper earlier and now this. She was feeling worse now but was not going to give up to Melissa. She would keep fighting even as she felt her energy draining rapidly.

"Melissa you must not fight with your cousin." Morgan said to her daughter hoping to calm her ice wielding daughter down at least with the shock of her words.

"Cousin?" Melissa said disgusted. She glared at her new found cousin, still not liking the girl at all. She wanted Warren miserable without her, not enjoying himself with someone new especially a newfound kin of hers. She was not going to abide by him enjoying himself. She wanted him regretting loosing her and with Brigid there she knew he would not regret if for a moment. That really coldly angered her to no end. "That is my cousin, Mother it can't be true. You don't have a sister or brother. Only my Cousin Emma well secound cousin."

Brigid looked at her Grandfather who nodded. "Your Mother's family Granddaughter." He told her. He knew that she was on her last legs with her energy if they would not have come when they had. Melissa could have hurt her cousin but they had so Brigid would not need a trip to the nurse's office. Even though he knew his stubborn Granddaughter would have kept on fighting even without the use of her powers. He was glad they were able to stop it without him having to interfere.

Brigid nodded taking in his words and the then looked at her cousin before speaking in a rough voice. "Get this cousin, mess with me or my comrades and I'll hurt you blood ties or not. These are my teammates don't mess with them or myself ever again." The weather outside thundered in agreement with her words she was still very angry with being almost taken by her mother and now this, it was almost too much for her to take. "And I'm not fixing that. I don't feel like it right now." She looked at her grandfather. "I just don't ok? I saw her today. I'm not going to fix it. I just cannot." She had already fixed it once, she just was not sure if she could fix the weather a secound time that day. Plus she was not sure how much longer she was going to be able to stand up much less fix the mess she just made of the weather systems around Sky High.

Dylan smiled at his granddaughter. "It's ok this once Granddaughter." He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. "But normally you would have to fix it." He reminded her as he recognized the fact that she had not calmed down enough to fix what she made up in the sky about them. He knew that when she calmed down she would fix it. "Why don't you children adjourn to your Tranquility room here at school?" They nodded and turned heel almost as one and left the adults and Melissa standing there. Melissa was still fuming as Dylan spoke once again. "I would suggest avoiding her, she will not tolerate your attitude and I'd hate to have to get her out of detention and see your mother getting you out of the nurse's office."

"Are you threatening me?" Melissa hissed at her elder before catching her mother's eyes and blanching for her behavior. She was still angry, and this news was not taking the edge of her anger either. A new cousin, who was with her ex-boyfriend's group of friends, that fact was not making her happy at all.

"No just letting you know that messing with your kinswoman could leave you badly hurt." Dylan sighed. "I was hoping not to have her get into any more fights at her new school," he said absently to the adults around him.

"I was too." Veronica sighed. "I am going to let this one slide but only this once." She looked at Melissa. "You're a senior don't blow your graduation over something this stupid. Now go back to your class."

Melissa nodded picked up her backpack and left for class she was still not happy and she was going to have a long talk with her Mother as soon as school let out. That and if they thought she was just going to let this thing she saw between Warren and Brigid go they all had another thing coming. Her newly found cousin was not going to date her ex-boyfriend or be friends with him if she had her say in the matter just how to sabotage them without them realizing it was her doing the sabotaging.

In their meeting room the teenagers all looked at Brigid who had started pacing around their room like a caged animal. They all knew she was being stubborn for the moment she sat they all had a feeling she would pass out. She was growling softly and the others knowing her mood all sat quietly in their chosen seats. All their eyes were on their temperamental comrade unsure of what they could do to make the situation better or even if they could better it.

Layla pondered the mini multi-coloured braids in the other girl's hair. She knew that they had not been in there that morning and she knew that no one at the museum was doing such perfect mini braids for a price. She also wondered how long it would take Brigid to calm down; the fight between her and Melissa had been quite a spectacle to watch. Layla shivered remembering the look of pure hatred that shone on Melissa's eyes even though her face was expressionless.

Magenta decided to distract herself by looking at the tapestries on the wall. She found that the tapestry idea was a good one they had all the colours to represent the members of their team. That thought made her very happy, her eyes wandered back to Brigid and she sighed hoping that the weather wielder would calm down and soon. Brigid's rapid changes of mood sometimes frightened her. The only one of the group that seemed unaffected by Brigid and her rapid mood changes was Warren and Magenta wanted to know why but she did not want to ask him why for she thought he would not tell her.

Warren watched her along with the others as she stomped her foot one more time then moved quickly to sit next to him on the love seat. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes she fought passing out. She began to mummer in Gaelic, "/I can fix this it needs to be done. I should not have tampered with the weather and lost my temper./" She shivered and Warren answered her feeling of cold by raising the temperature of the air about the two. She felt warmer as she continued to work on what she messed up by loosing her temper twice that day. He could also feel her strength ebbing as she did her work. He knew she not be awake much longer once she was done.

Warren muttered to her in Gaelic softly knowing the others where not paying attention to him. All eyes where riveted to Brigid. "/It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself for the follies of another./" Brigid sighed and hoped that she be able to believe what Warren had just said to her.

Will looking out the window watched as the sky cleared of the black clouds and became a beautiful azure blue once more. He smiled as he turned to thank Brigid he watched in horror as she collapsed against Warren, who scooped her up as he stood up.

"Her Grandfather should still be here." Warren stated. "I think Brigid needs to go home now." He looked down at the girl in his arms his expression unreadable as always to the others; he turned and carried her out of the room leaving them all dumbstruck with the events.

"Did he just leave with her?" Magenta voiced everyone's surprise with her question.

"Yeah," Layla sighed then smiled shaking her head. "I think that Brigid isn't going to recover so fast from this one at all."

"I don't think so either." Ethan shook his head as the others looked at him. "She fixed the storm earlier and then the fight with Melissa then this. She'll be out for a day or even two at least. She's drained."

They looked at each other unhappily not knowing what to say to each other after all the events of the day. So they sat in silence unable to think of what to do next or how to react to the situation that they were presently in.

Walking quickly down the hall carrying his slight burden, which snuggled to his shoulder much to his embarrassment he sighed listening to her speak softly in Gaelic in her sleep. He felt his cheeks grow warm with some of her comments but forced himself under control and tuned her out. He noted the looks the other students gave him as he quickly wandered past them on his way to the principal's office. He also growled lightly realizing one of the girls that saw them was Melissa's best friend and the girl disappeared quickly upon seeing him with Brigid, a little too quickly for Warren.

He walked past the people of the office who all stopped what they were doing to stare at him and his burden. He managed to open the principal's office door and carry Brigid inside. He kicked the door shut behind him heralding his presence to the people inside.

Dylan and Veronica looked up from their talk. Dylan smiled seeing Warren then his eyes traveled to his Granddaughter. "She fixed it now she is out like a light."

Warren handed her over to Dylan then the two had to pry her fingers off of Warren's coat. She had a very tight grip on him. She softly protested in her sleep, "Grandfather no Warren's warm and I hated being cold. Don't take my warmth away..." her voice trailed off as she fell back into unconsciousness.

Dylan laughed lightly at his Granddaughter's words as he managed with Warren's help to get his Granddaughter to let go. "I'm sorry Warren." Dylan's voice was amused. "She is right though you are warm and she heals faster when she is warm." He looked over his burden at Veronica. "I will have to bid you ado." He inclined his head to her then looked at Warren. "Warren, be a good laddie and pick up her homework for me, today's and tomorrow's I think she will wake up the day after the morrow if I am any judge."

"I will sir." Warren agreed he was not sure how he felt about being called a laddie but he knew that Dylan was not making fun of him. The old Scotsman called all the boys laddies. He watched as the two disappeared. "This day is a day from hell."

He shook his head and left Veronica Powers sitting there in agreement with him. He went around to all Brigid's teachers and got her assignments and then rejoined the others in their room. They had been excused from classes that day because of what happened with Warren and Brigid's parents. He sat down and looked at them. "This is one hell of a day and unlike you all. I'm taking a nap." With that deceleration Warren stretched out on the sofa and fell asleep.

Layla blinked at the red and gray blanket that Warren covered himself in and looked at the others. "A nap would be good. We are all in shock." Layla sighed. "I know I will be able to think better after resting." They all nodded and took a nap as well.


End file.
